I don't remember discussing it either, but it would be in books - "She had the signal grace to -----" or the teachers would say in class about having the signal grace and you knew that it meant that that person was given a special grace that the rest of us didn't get and that it was for a special purpose.
I can't remember where, but Our Lady said we should ask for the graces that no one ever asks for! This mystified me for a long time! What could those graces be that no one ever asks for?! Now I just ask for them, without even knowing what they are!
:idea:
I'm not sure how to isolate part of a post, so I'm quoting the whole thing here even though I want to try to help with the question regarding what graces to ask for.
Our Lady told St. Catherine Laboure (Miraculous Medal) "Many people don't receive graces simply because they don't ask for them." And I seem to recall her saying to ask for graces that no one asks for but I can't remember where I read that. I don't think She meant "no one" literally.
The answer is easy if you just think about your life -- what are your needs temporal and spiritual? God is giving you graces all day and all night. All of us take them for granted. We should start asking for these graces even though He is already granting them to us because that glorifies Him.
St. Augustine wrote that by ourselves, all we can do is sin. EVERYTHING ELSE is a grace from God. And God is glorified when we petition Him for what we need because 1) It is an act of humility on our part to ask of Him because we thereby show our belief that He is greater than we are and that glorifies Him, and 2) It is an act of faith and hope since we show dependence on Him for our every need, and in that we show trust in His words in the Scriptures that He is our God and will take care of us. And 3) Everytime we pray like this, we gain more merit for heaven, so it is beneficial to us as well as to God to ask for graces.
So, you can ask for graces for yourself -- the grace to fight temptations, to suffer well, to have the virtue you are striving for, to die a holy death, to make a good confession, to increase in love for Him and Our Lady, to be faithful to your Faith until death (that is called the grace of Final Perseverance and is a sheer gift of God; we cannot merit that grace ourselves)....
We can ask for anything that is not sinful, even things we take for granted like having enough money to buy groceries, keep our job, maintain our health, not be involved in a car accident, protection of ourselves and our property during storms..... The list is almost infinite if you also add requests for graces for those you know. Then you can also pray for the souls in Purgatory, for all priests, for the conversion of Rome, for mercy if God so desires to chastise us more severely.... The list is endless if you remember that EVERYTHING IS A GRACE FROM GOD EXCEPT SIN ITSELF. Even the remorse you feel after committing a sin is a grace from God!
You can think outside the box: When you eat fish, ask God to protect the fishermen who made it possible for you to have your meal. There are many storms at sea. Who asks for this? Pray for soldiers, first responders, accident victims, the dying, farmers--ask for graces for them because what they do benefits your life. Again, the list can go on and on. Just think about it.
How many people do you think ask for these graces (keep the answer to yourself). I'm guessing practically no one. Before V2 we had many prayers for such people in our devotional books. Now we don't even have the books! So you speak from your heart and God will inspire you what to say--by means of a grace! It was by a grace that you are even wondering about this! Pretty awesome, huh? : )