Veritas et Gratia
The phrase that reshaped my identity and freed me from legalism.
Sometimes, the phrases that change our lives don’t arrive with fireworks. They slip in quietly, almost unnoticed, and then begin to reshape everything.
For me, one of those phrases is three simple words in Latin: Veritas et Gratia. Truth and Grace.
I first fell in love with the Latin language during my early years homeschooling our children. As we explored classical education together, I discovered how ancient phrases and prayers hold an enduring kind of beauty.
Latin began showing up everywhere—in the liturgies I was drawn to, the theological texts I devoured, and even the margin notes of books that helped reshape my inner life.
But this phrase—Veritas et Gratia—has stayed with me for reasons far deeper than aesthetics. It’s become an anchor for the way I live, parent, write, and walk with God.
The first time I heard someone speak of truth and grace together—without using them as opposites—was in a book that profoundly changed my life.
Dr. Henry Cloud’s Changes That Heal introduced me to a God who doesn’t just call us to truth, but who meets us in grace.
He wrote:
"Grace is the first ingredient necessary for growing up in the image of God. Grace is unbroken, uninterrupted, unearned, accepting relationship... Grace, then, is the relational aspect of God's character.
Truth is the second ingredient necessary...truth is the structural aspect of [God's] character. Truth is the skeleton life hangs upon; it adds shape to everything in the universe. God's truth leads us to what is real, to what is accurate.”
It was one of those moments where something inside me cracked open.
After years in a faith culture shaped by legalism, performance, and fear, I began to see the possibility of something softer—and truer.
Not a weaker faith. A more whole one.
Veritas et Gratia: Lived Out
Truth has always mattered to me. (INTJ, anyone?) But grace—grace was the piece I didn’t know I needed. The piece I was missing.
I had been trying (for decades) to survive on principles without Presence.
Now, years later, I find myself writing (and living) in the tension between both.
Truth and grace.
Conviction and compassion.
Holy grounding and holy gentleness.
So when I needed a phrase to quietly mark my writing—something that could hold all of this—I chose Veritas et Gratia.
Because I believe your story, like mine, deserves both.
Recommended Reading
If you’ve never read Changes That Heal by Dr. Henry Cloud, I highly recommend it—especially if you’re navigating religious deconstruction, emotional healing, or learning to let go of old wounds.
📚 Changes That Heal – Dr. Henry Cloud (Amazon)
Remember this:
You are loved. You are being led.
And there is no contradiction in being both grounded in truth and held by grace.
Veritas et gratia,
Kristy 💐