Have you heard the expression “give them some grace”?  It’s all the rage and the latest example of the collapse of religious language into the vast junkyard of postmodern deconstructionism.  We all know what is meant by the phrase—cut them some slack, give them a break, take it easy on them, etc.—and we all certainly appreciate when this sentiment has been extended to us!  Nevertheless, “grace” is a very theologically sophisticated term that actually means the totally free gift of the Lord’s friendship.  As a person who sins, grace is not mine to give.  It must, instead, be received as a free gift from the only one who can, in fact, offer it (hence the word “gratitude,” the appropriate response to such a gift, is derived from “grace”).  Maybe we should instead communicate more accurately by saying something like, “May God’s grace bless and sustain you,” or “I will do the best I can to be flexible with you as God has been flexible with me,” or even something less-charged like, “Let’s give this person the benefit of the doubt.”  The hope is that we can truly be instruments of God’s grace without spoiling it with our own stuff.  May grace, indeed, come and this world pass away (Didache 10:6).  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.