Grace Builds On Nature

"Although the supernatural means comes first in all apostolate, Our Lord still wants us to use all the human possibilities we can. Grace does not replace nature and we cannot ask Our Lord for extraordinary assistance or help when, through the ordinary channels, God has placed the necessary instruments in our hands. A person who would not try to do everything in his power, and who expected divine help for everything, would be tempting God, and the grace of God would cease to act." - St. Thomas Aquinas

Amen. Now, more than ever, I realize that it's just a matter of doing everything in one's power, but always surrendering plans to the Lord and submitting to His will. We cannot go through life drifting, or merely observing, waiting in the wings for things to just happen to us - but to actually meet our dreams head-on, or seek them out, and certainly only after seeking Divine guidance first. I don't believe in passive Christianity, and the parable of the talents warns against just that - our gifts are given to be used to the fullest extent, for His greater glory! For grace builds on nature indeed - as someone once so aptly put it: without God, we cannot; without us, God will not!