We continue to reflect on the need of gratitude for what God has bestowed on us.
For the gift of forgiveness: "Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool." (Is 1:18) Who else but God could act as He does: "So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart...I will make a covenant for them on that day....I will espouse you to me forever; I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity and you shall know the Lord." (Ho. 2:16, 20, 21-22) His mercy endures forever--for the sins we are aware of and the sins that we are not aware--our personal sins and the sins of corporate humanity; thank you, Lord, for sparing us from the dire consequences of racial bigotry and division spawned by political expediences; thank you, Lord, for forgiving us even before we ask forgiveness.

Story: There were two women on the shore of the sacred Ganges River in India. The older woman notices a spider impaled on a thorn bush floating on the river. The older woman reaches for the spider, rescues it, and in the process, is bitten by the spider. Immediately, she sucks out the poison from her finger and releases the spider. Somehow, the spider gets caught again on the thorn branch, and the older woman again plucks it out. The spider repeats his action of biting the woman. The younger woman marvels at this sequence. She remarks, "Old woman, what foolishness is this? Leave the spider to its fate. Every time you try to help it, it repays you with a bite." The old woman replies: "The spider's nature is to bite. Mine is to save."

One way we can express our gratitude is to forgive others.