Jesus teaches us that we are his friends if we do what he commands us; namely, to love one another. To be in friendship with Jesus is to be in a state of grace. Jesus makes it possible for us to love others because through his grace - friendship - he has loved us first. To be in a state of grace, then, is to be aware of an acceptance of the life-giving relationship into which God invites us. There was a time in the Church when grace was described as something that we could receive in measurable quantities. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has returned to a biblical understanding of grace, which is God's very life shared with us. When we say that God gives us the grace that we need for daily living, we are saying that he shares his very life with us through his Son, Jesus Christ. When we are aware of God's grace in our lives, we are capable of reaching out to others because God has first reached out to us.