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1.Is 52:7-10
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2.Heb 1:1-6
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Gospel: Jn1:
1-18( 1:1-5,9-14
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" OUR
GRATITUDE TO GOD"
There is a story of a man who always rode a bus
during wee hours while going home( usually at 5:00PM). One afternoon, there was
only one seat remaining in a bus and so he sit on it immediately. An old woman
caught also for the last trip rode on the bus. Since there was no available
seats so the old woman stood beside him. He was a gentleman, so he gave the
seat to her. When she sits on the chair, she fainted. The man did something for
her and she recovered. He asked the old woman: " Are you pregnant?"
What? Are you crazy? I'm already old and unable to bear a child," said the
old woman. " I fainted because for ten years this is the first time that
somebody offered me a seat. For this I thank you."
After saying, 'thank
you', the man fainted, so the woman did something for him until he recovered.
She asked him: " Are you pregnant?" " What? Are you crazy? I'm a
man," he said. " I fainted because for ten years that I offered my
seat, this is the first time that somebody thanked me."
Sometimes we say thank
you for receiving gifts...thank you for inviting me to your party...."
Others would say also ' thank you' for three times, so that the host will give
him something to bring home. May be others would also use a prominent person
like the priest that he likes this food also that the host will give something
to eat in their homes. There are so many " thank you" that we can
make to people who had done well to us. And for me Christmas is the right time
to give thanks to God for giving us His only Son to be our Savior. But usually
we only notice the gift and not the giver of the gift.
However, if we owe
thank to people for doing us good, how
much more for God? Today, most especially, we are celebrating the birthday of
Christ- A day of thanksgiving. The greatest gift that God exchanged for us. The
early Jews thanked God not only for redemption from slavery in Egypt; they
thanked Him for the air, the sun, the rain, and the crops.... The early
Christians inherited this thanking tradition and added another even more
important element because we and the whole world are redeemed by Christ from
the slavery of sin and shame and sorrow and all the ills that flesh is heir to
... so they called their worship a " Thanksgiving" ( in Greek,
Eucharistia, In English, Eucharist). So it is really necessary to give thanks
to God for this wonderful and loving action of God in us. But do we give thanks
to God for this wonderful and loving action of God in us. But do we give thanks
to Him sincerely? If we attend mass, is it because we want to thank God or the
other way around? I hope not the other way around.
So it is really
necessary to give gratitude not only for the gift but also most especially for
the giver, God Himself. Usually, we say that some are lucky because they have
some what they want in life, but God gives us according to our capacity to
share to others. Amassing of wealth is
not God's will; It is man's will and greediness.
Then what we do when we receive gift? Do we humbly express our gratitude by
saying, ' thank you' to the giver? Do we bring both the gift and the giver to
our prayer asking God to give them more blessings?
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR CHRISTMAS DAY YEAR B"
Chapisha Maoni