The Media Forays
The media industry has grown in all forms and dimensions. Its scribes have reached a near-saturation point having carried out surveys and other investigations into almost all possible subjects on earth. A story has it that three young journalists, frustrated with little or nothing left to delve into on earth, decided to venture out into an altogether new territory. They decided to go to Heaven to study the operations there and see if they could write a publishable story. Somehow they made their way to Heaven with their cameras and laptops and when they explained their mission to St. Peter, they readily got his nod to enter.

Heaven Surveyed
St. Peter led them into a very large hall, above the entrance door of which were the words ‘Receiving Department’. As they walked in, the young journalists were awestruck not by its unspeakable ambience but by the flurry of activity. Throngs of angels filled the hall and were engaged in a hectic activity at a frenetic pace. They asked one of the busy angels what was happening there. He told them that they were sorting out the millions of petitions that come to Heaven every moment and then were putting them up to God for sanction. The journalists made their notings and moved on to the next hall marked ‘Despatch Department’.
Again, they were swept off their feet by what they saw. It was filled with countless number of angels, darting about at breath-taking speeds. With some effort, they got one of the angels to talk. He told them that they were packing, labeling and forwarding to earth the answers to petitions which God was pleased to sanction.
“Does God answer all the petitions?” asked the journalists. “Yes”, came the reply “though not always as precisely as the petitioner wanted. Sometimes, He answers them in a way which He knows is best for the petitioner. If the petitioner scrutinizes closely all the blessings that come his way, he will find that the answer to his prayers lies somewhere in them. Did Jesus not tell us to ask and it will be given to you?”
The journalists quickly logged in their observations, took pictures and moved on to the third hall. This hall, though equally large and resplendent, was devoid of the hectic activity of the first two and manned by just a single angel. Bewildered by this anticlimactic scene, the journalists were tempted to ask why the activity there was dismally so low as compared to the feverish activity of the first two. “Well” the angel said, “this is the Thanksgiving Department and we receive very few acknowledgements from earth to keep us busy.” The journalists spontaneously interrupted the holy one, “But there are numerous thanksgivings and psalms happening down below every moment.” “Yes, we know,” responded the angel, “but they are quite out of proportion with the number of responses we send down. Besides, they are so tepidly done that many of them fizzle off on their way up. We would like you to take back to earth the message that God prefers to see the acknowledgements converted into action. He prefers thanksgiving in kind rather than in words.” “How do we do that?” asked the journalists. The angel replied, “Do you remember Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?” The journalists nodded. “Then when you go back to earth, analyse the first part of each beatitude and you will find your answer.”
Well! Let us leave the young journos alone to write their piece and look at the implications of the interesting dialogue between them and the angels.

God answers all our prayers
If you have been praying for your son to become a medic, but instead he chooses to join the seminary, then that’s the answer to your prayer. If you have always hoped that God would bless you with a lot of wealth by the time you retire, instead you have been granted robust health, a good appetite and youthful exuberance with just your retirement benefits, then God has answered you. If we could sometimes reflect a little and see beyond our specific petition, we would ‘see’ that God answers all our prayers but in His ways, just as the angel said.
 

Does God want our Thanksgiving?
Of course, He does! Remember the incident when Jesus was asked by ‘ten’ men suffering from leprosy to heal them and they

were all made clean. And only one of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice and

throwing himself to the ground thanked Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “There were ten who were healed, where are the other

nine? Why has only one come back to give thanks to God?” Does one need further proof that God expects our thanks and

praise?

From Verbal Thanks to Action – à-la-Beatitudes
There is much wisdom in what the angels told the journos, that is to convert the verbal thanks and praise to ‘kind’. Didn’t

Jesus say “whatever you do to the least of my brethren you do it unto me?” Let us then look at the first part of some of

the beatitudes.

1. BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT... ‘poor in spirit’ means to be humble. Humility is the realization that all your gifts and blessings come from God. So, if we have been bestowed with abundant talents or a windfall of something, let us not go about with bloated heads. If we do that, our thanksgiving will not reach heaven even though we may shout ‘Hosannas’ till our voices turn hoarse; instead let us give of our talents for the benefit of others and share some of our wealth with the not-so-fortunate, that will be appreciated.

2. BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN … This attitude of grief is one of recognizing our sins, which leads us to repentance; also we learn to recognize the sufferings of others which leads to compassion. In this way we follow Christ who identified himself with a suffering world. Joining the St. Vincent de Paul society, or an occasional visit to a hospital or a home for the aged and the destitute, or involvement in the SCCs will go a long way in pleasing the Almighty.

3. BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER JUSTICE … This attitude is one of giving fellow human beings what is due to them and speaking against injustice to the poor. On the other hand, when we take another’s property or his good name or anything that is his and do not make restitution, then we are nullifying all our verbal thanksgiving, howsoever vociferous it is.
These and the other five Beatitudes declare the blessedness of people because of both their personal virtues and gratitude for God’s special protection and interest in them. No wonder they are called the Eight Principles of the Kingdom of God.
Shall we then conclude with the prayer, ‘Lord teach me to render thanks in ways more pleasing to thee.’