There seems to be a consensus among those that have sent me interpretions of the song that Grace is about christianity but exactly who "Grace" herself is differ. Some argue that it is humanity (or more specifically christians), other that it is God, Jesus, Mary, The Holy Sprit, the grace of God, etc. There does not seems to be any statements by U2, at this time of writing, that can confirm or disconfirm the meaning of the song.
Jonas Steverud (Maintainer of U2MoL) (18:th of January 2002)
The is no she in 'grace'. grace is the sacrifice that god made through the death of his son, to deliver us into heaven (the focal point in christianity). similar to mysterious ways, 'she' is used to represent an idea or concept. there is a story that noel gallagher (oasis) ask bono "how do you prayed" whilst living a rock n' roll life style. bono sent him a book by philip yancey "what's so amazing about grace". after reading this book, there is no question where bono got the inspiration for the song, and even the qualities he attributes to grace.
I wont go line by line but basically, grace carries the gift of salvation without flash (no twirls and skips) and just carries the world's salvation (pearl) in perfect condition.
she travels outside of karma. the concept of grace is the opposite of karma. if we all got what we deserve, we'd be going to hell. grace, however , has made beauty out of ugly things...
xavier adrian xavier
wlc-architects.com (28:th of January 2003)
I saw Bono by TV at an African Humanitarian Tour sponsored by some foundation that gathered public celebrities to visit needed 3rd world people and and took slected students with them to witness these poeples needs and to transmit their point of view through the documental. During this Tour, Bono met and talked a woman named Grace, who was part of a of HIV infected support group and he commented that he was impressed of her moral strenth and here every day job with this support group. I supose she's got something to do with the song's name.
Eudoro Santiago López Schnell -Valencia-Venezuela ylanacantv.net (28th of March 2003)