Quote of the Day (Nancy Mairs, on Grace)

“One of the elements that drew me into the Catholic Church was the concept of grace, although I've never been able to make more than clumsy sense of it. I am moved by the idea that God always already loves us first, before we love God, wholly and without condition, that God forgives us even before we have done anything to require forgiveness, as we will inevitably do, and that this outpouring of love and forgiveness fortifies us for repentance and reform.”—Nancy Mairs, “Here: Grace,” from her memoir Ordinary Time: Cycles in Marriage, Faith, and Renewal (1993)