On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, "Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says, 'Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'" He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.  

Back at the school of magic at Hogwarts in the movie "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,", under instructions from Professor Dumbledore, Harry Potter becomes one of the favorites of Professor Slughorn who has in his memory the secret of Voldemort's seemingly eternal earthly life. The manner in which Harry discovers the secret is Professor Slughorn's own concoction called the "Luck Potion" or liquid luck. Harry pretended to use it with his friend Ron when Ron became the Quidditch goalie for his house. He uses it for real in order to discover the secret from Slughorn. In both instances, the thought of its use and its actual use, the wished-for result was attained.   

Liquid luck in whatever world we are involved in, whether fantasy or real, would certainly be a possession to be treasured. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as liquid luck, the luck potion that Harry Potter possesses in this session of the movie, but as one studies the spiritual life taught by Jesus Christ, the concept of "grace" comes very close. In Jesus' thought, the Spirit will come to the believer, and the Spirit will bring into our lives the very life of Jesus called grace. In other words, the believer has the ability to allow everything to turn to good by the grace that God gives.

Such is the belief of a Christian, but whether one is a Christian or not, the concept of "grace" makes good sense. If we are convinced that we can bring about some good in our lives, and really want it with all of our hearts, we will be able to accomplish it, not unlike Ron with his ability to be a Quidditch goalie. The human being is capable of astonishing things; our Creator has given each of us the ability to develop ourselves in such a way as to bring about the good that is within each of us. Whether we define it as "grace" or "the presence of God" or even "luck," everyone of us can truly accomplish good things to make our world better.

There is a drawback, however. In the Christian realm of understanding, it is defined as the failure of a person to respond to the grace which God always gives. In common parlance, it is defined as the refusal to make use of the gifts that we are given by God. In general, our human natures do not like to put forth large amounts of effort. We would much rather have things given to us and as in the movie, drink a potion or take a pill, making everything work to our advantage. The truth is that we will achieve the good that we desire. We really will. But in order to do it, we have to work at it.

In truth, there is no such thing as luck. There is only good. God will always give us good things, no matter what. But the condition is that we must show that we want the good things by our efforts.                   

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we believe that you have given all of us the grace to be more like your Son, and thus attain good things in life. We continue to ask for that grace, and we ask you to help us use it better than we are now. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America