Unexpected Occasions of Grace
Mike Carotta
Our Sunday Vistor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.
Copyright © 2016 by Mike Carotta. Published 2016.
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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-61278-938-5 (Inventory No. T1711)
eISBN: 978-1-61278-941-5
LCCN: 2016930614
Cover design: Tyler Ottinger
Cover art: Shutterstock; Dreamstime; iStock Photo; author photo
Interior design: Dianne Nelson
Printed in the United States of America
Endorsements
These encounters give us near occasions to savor heaven’s door ajar, glimpse inside meaningful spaces of the holy, and ponder our own Spirit-filled encounters. Unexpected Occasions of Grace is a delightful and challenging resource to sustain the spiritual journey.
Tom and Kimi TomaszekCo-Directors, The Five Loaves, thefiveloaves.com
Good companions allow grace to teach us. Mike Carotta shares slices of life in a way that lets the encounters evoke emotion, opening our eyes to grace in the most “chance” interactions. But the good teacher he is, he never lets us stay there. He brings us to reflection. And there, grace teaches us.
Mike Patin, Faith Horticulturist
This book gives you all the best parts of traveling without any of the hassle. I found myself in Boston and Baton Rouge; in large stadiums, corner bars, and silent rooms; and I felt like I belonged in each one, like I was part of the conversation. That’s Mike Carotta’s gift: He finds the spaces for intimate and honest conversations, and he invites you to stay a while with him there, to enjoy the richness of life.
Leonard J. DeLorenzo, Ph.D.Director, Notre Dame Vision and Student EngagementInstitute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame
Dedication
To my mom, Anne Carotta, the most loving, gracious, and intelligent woman I have ever known.
She cherished and held stories in a way that showed her children and grandchildren how to capture them and live with them.
And she is the one who made me believe that I could even write them down.
Contents
2 A generous gesture can be grace enough
4 Grace overflows in the joy and pain of our callings
5 Grace passed on in a final message
6 Beauty has many forms. So, too, it’s grace
7 There are childhood graces inside us
8 Some people are full of grace
9 There is grace in workmanship
10 Broken hearts are full of grace, too
11 Sometimes there is grace that humbles you
12 Sometimes paradox contains grace
14 The Spirit infuses our lives with grace
15 And there are women and men whose whole lives are committed to grace
16 Sorrow has its own grace, too
18 Hard questions hold grace for those willing to hold the question
19 Sometimes grace comes to us slanted instead of straightaway
21 Grace challenges complacency, too
22 There is plenty of grace out there
23 A single act of grace can make a lot more grace
