Date: May 18, 2020 ()

Bible Text: First Reading ACTS 16:11-15; Gospel JN 15:26—16:4A |

Series:

Gratitude keeps goodness coming.

“If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.” Said the woman whose heart was opened by the Lord to listen to Paul and asked to be baptized with her family. It could be the greatest blessing this woman ever received - to have been enlightened by the truth and found Christ who is the Giver of Life and her Savior. Lydia was filled with gratitude and she wanted to do something to express her gratitude.

Having been graced by the Lord through Paul, the woman graced Paul by her offer of a place to stay. We have all been graced in various ways by the Lord. The appropriate response to the experience of being graced is to grace others in return. Having received from the Lord, we give from what we have received. We look for ways to grace others as we have been graced, to bless others as we have been blessed.

The truth is: the ministers of the Lord had been enjoying this favor of the people’s hospitality. I can attest to that. I have grown to see these wonderful things done to the priests in my home town and I have experienced these great favors myself all throughout my ministry wherever I go.

The vocation to the priesthood is about the Lord’s call and our response - a response to the love and goodness of the Lord. We have been blessed of the Lord’s call and so, every day the priests tried their best to respond to that call knowing that we don’t even deserve the many great blessings we received from Him.

The exchange of “God bless you” all the time is a good Christian culture. We wish people blessings because we know how it feels to be blest. We pay it forward what we just enjoyed. Gratitude keeps goodness coming.