<center>There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the great and difficult thing which is the aim of our endeavour, a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and a supreme Grace from above that answers.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/32/the-mother-i#p1</ref> </center>
=Experience of the Divine Grace=
==Touch of Grace==
Of course in many cases there is a true experience first, a touch of the Grace, but it is not something that lasts and is always there, but rather something that touches and withdraws and waits for the nature to get ready. But this is not so in every case, not even in many cases, I believe. One has to begin with the soul's inherent longing, then the struggle with the nature to get the temple ready, then the unveiling of the Image, the permanent Presence in the sanctuary. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/bhakti-yoga-and-vaishnavism#p14</ref>
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If you have had even a second's contact with the Grace—that marvellous Grace which carries you along, speeds you on the path, even makes you forget that you have to hurry—if you have had only a second's contact with that, then you can strive not to forget. And with the candour of a child, the simplicity of a child for whom there are no complications, give yourself to that Grace and let it do everything. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/12-november-1958#p16</ref>
==The Divine Presence==
And, moreover, there are days when one is in contact with the divine Consciousness which is at work, with the Grace, and then everything is tinged, coloured with this Presence, and things which usually seem to you dull and uninteresting become charming, pleasant, attractive, instructive—everything lives and vibrates, and is full of promise and force. So, when one opens to that, one feels stronger, freer, happier, full of energy, and ''everything'' has a meaning. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/26-september-1956#p14</ref>
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But it's so lovely when this Harmony comes. You know, puttering about, arranging papers, setting a drawer in order.... It all sings, it's lovely, so joyous and luminous... so delightful! And all, all, all.... All material things, all activities, eating, dressing, everything becomes delightful when this harmony is there, delightful. Everything works out smoothly, it's so harmonious, there's no friction. You see... you see a joyous, luminous Grace manifesting in all things, ALL things, even those we normally regard as utterly unimportant. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/agenda/02/july-18-1961#p63</ref>
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It makes you sense so clearly that things in themselves don't count. What we call 'things in themselves' are of no true importance! What really counts is the relationship of consciousness to these things. And there's a formidable power in this, since in one instance you touch something and drop or mishandle it, while in the other it's so lovely, it works so smoothly. Even the most difficult movements are made without difficulty. It's an unheard-of power! We don't give it importance because it has no grandiose effects, it's not spectacular. Yes, there are indeed states of grace when one is in the presence of a great difficulty and suddenly has all the power needed to face it—yes, but that's something else. I am speaking of a power active in ordinary life. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/agenda/02/july-18-1961#p64</ref>
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As soon as you are in contact with It, there is not a second in time, not a point in space, which does not show you ''dazzlingly'' this perpetual work of the Grace, this constant intervention of the Grace. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/1-august-1956#p50</ref>
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The best meditations are those that one has all of a sudden, because they take possession of you as an imperative necessity. You have no choice but to concentrate, to meditate, to look beyond the appearances. And it is not necessarily in the solitude of the forest that it seizes you, it happens when something in you is ready, when the time has come, when the true need is there, when the Grace is with you. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/miscellany#p20</ref>
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If one can see it, feel it, experience its action, so to say, be conscious of its presence and movement, then one has the joy of the movement, the progress, the realisation; but this does not mean that if one doesn't feel this joy, the action of the Grace is not there, the realisation not there. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/10-october-1956#p18</ref>
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"If one were in union with this Grace, if one saw It everywhere, one would begin living a life of exultation, of all-power, of infinite happiness. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/8-august-1956#p38</ref>
=Why Divine Grace Matters=