Miracles: Your actions can be a miracle - 30 April 2024

A couple of years ago, my mother, grandmother and I visited a coffee shop. We were celebrating my grandmother’s birthday. My grandmother is already in her nineties and she has trouble hearing. So, we talked rather loudly. The louder we spoke to my grandmother, the louder she spoke back. (I suspected that she thought it was us who had difficulty hearing!)

The other people in the coffee shop had to listen to us talking about anything and everything – from Covid-19 vaccinations to my grandmother’s self-diagnosis of restless legs.

When my mother wanted to pay the bill, we were told that a stranger had already paid it. Apparently, the person overheard that we were celebrating my grandmother’s birthday. It is an event that will always stay with me – a stranger who saw fit to pay for cake and coffee for all of us, without any recognition, without us being able to say thank you. It was the first time something like that had happened to me.

I still think back to that day, because I experienced some of the humanity of that anonymous person. It makes me think about my role in society and how I can help others. I realise that this is something I should do more often – simply to help or give, where and when I can.

We must never forget about what we can do for other people. Each of us can make a big difference in other people’s lives with small things. Isn’t that why we are here? Trying to make a difference? To testify to God’s mercy and love with our actions?

Think about it in this way: with your actions, you can give someone else the chance to experience a miracle, even if it is only a small one.

Prayer: Lord, thank you very much for working miracles in our lives in different ways and at different times. Use me to make a difference in other people’s lives, so that they too can experience your love and protection. Amen