Reflections
“Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?”According to one story, a priest passionately delivered a sermon on gratitude. He told the congregation in attendance that it is necessary to develop a habit of thanking God for everything in life. He used a passage from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thes- salonians (5:18): in all circum- stance, give thanks. He wanted to show an example during the offertory, so he waited for the collection bag to reach him. To his surprise, the bag contained none. Not one dropped a coin into the collection. By this time, all eyes were on him and he found himself in a dilemma. But then an inspiration came. He looked up and said, “Lord, thank you, we still have the bag!”From a practical perspec- tive, the gospel story shows to us God’s goodness and the ten- dency of many of us to overlook it. The challenge of course to all of us is not to forget God. We may have many problems in life but there are still many things to thank God for. We are still bles- sed and God still deserves our gratitude. We should not only recognize the gift, we should thank the giver.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019