ESSAY // Beloved: Finding and Giving Grace Through Stories
EXCERPT //
“I identify wholeheartedly with the definition of grace as a ‘virtue coming from God.’ I have learned that it is a gift, a favor from a higher power given to us when we least expect it or feel that we don’t deserve it—regardless, we receive it in ways that are abundantly freeing. It teaches us how to live, how to love. Grace keeps our faith and love grounded, especially when it is tested in unimaginable ways. To have it means to be resilient.
I didn’t quite get the concept of grace, what it means to have or lose it, until long after I graduated from my Catholic middle and high school and after I was an acolyte at an African Episcopal church in West Philadelphia—places and spaces where I was supposed to develop my spirituality. Eventually, and through time, I fostered an understanding of grace that further developed my own relationship with God.
October is a strange month for me. It is the month of my mother’s birthday and her passing, my parents’ wedding anniversary, and my grandmother’s passing. It is filled with bittersweet memories. …
Last October, in a small independent bookstore, I saw a hardbound copy of Beloved on a shelf. Its thick spine and gold script title beckoned me over, summoned me.”
For full text and images, consider reading RQ in print, on a Sunday afternoon, sun streaming through your window, coffee in hand, and nary a phone alert within sight or in earshot… just fine words, fine design, and the opportunity to make a stitch in time. // Subscribe or buy a single issue today. // Print is dead. Long live print. //