My birthday and why I am grateful to God

Today is my 27th birthday. It shares a feast with St. Iraeneus, an early saint of the church who defended her against heresy. I have much to be thankful for. I will try to list some of the things I give thanks for now in my blog.

I give thanks to God - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God's love is why I am here. Without God, I would be nothing. Everything I have to be thankful for is only because God has created it. He even created my ability to love. Only by his love can I ever love.

I am thankful to the saints. I am thankful to Mother Teresa, and Padre Pio. I am thankful to St. Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas and all the other saints. I am thankful to the Gospel writers. I am thankful to Mary, the Mother of God, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

I am thankful for my girlfriend Manasi. She could not be here to celebrate my birthday with me but she will be back soon. She loves me a lot and I love her.

Praise God for all my friends, and my family. I am thankful to those who have taught me the faith.

I am thankful for:

- the sacraments
- beautiful days, as well as rainy days
- joy and suffering
- the high and the lowly
- prayers
- Christ's love for each of us

I thank God for giving me so much. God's love sometimes overwhelms me and I begin to weep. God, so far beyond our comprehension came to Earth to suffer and die for us. Now he is with us in the Eucharist. We receive him with joy and thanks. Words fail to appreciate the wonders God has done. He is Lord of All, Creator of the Universe, yet he loves us so profoundly, we can never imagine his love for us. Even when we disobey his commands and run away like children, God smiles upon us and invites us back. We do not deserve this love. We would not deserve one drop of Christ's blood, but he gave not one drop, but every drop. He poured himself out completely for our sake. He was scouraged at the pillar, then carried his own cross upon which he was crucified and died. For what? For us. We, who said crucify him, we who disobey him, we who sin against him. He died for each and everyone of us. Even if there was just one person on Earth, Jesus would have been whipped and scouged at the pillar almost till death, then carried the heavy cross on his broken body. Yes, even for one. But more painful than all of these tortures was the pain of our sins. He bore all our sins, so that we can have the hope of Heaven. For this I am eternally thankful.