A humble and sincere gratitude is one of the most precious virtues in the eyes of God. And it, sadly, is one that He can rarely find in people of our day. Human beings have the tragic tendency to take the most precious and incredible gifts of God either for granted or as nothing valuable at all. The incredible mercy and miracle of God humbly degrading His Divine dignity by becoming Man - is a Gift horribly ignored or despised, even and especially at the blessed time of Christmas, the day our God was born to us.

So solemnly does the Church revere the Incarnation and Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ that She instructed Her children to genuflect at the words of the Nicene Creed which profess how God became Man, and was born of the Virgin Mary.

Sadly, more often than not, little thought is given to the importance of this reverence and gratitude we should have in our hearts.

On one occasion, one young gentleman who was attending Mass had such disregard and disrespect for this precious mystery of our Faith, that he did not even make the custom genuflection when he heard the sacred words in the Creed. But God, in His mercy, did not allow the man’s ingratitude to pass by without reproached. The well-deserved rebuke, though, came from an unlikely source.

As the gentleman stood, after everyone else had knelt, he suddenly saw, to his horror, a demon - who smacked him to the ground.

“Ungrateful wretch!” the devil spewed angrily. “Is that how you are thankful? If God had only done half as much for us - we would be constantly prostrate before Him, adoring and thanking Him.”

Needless, to say, a lasting impression was made upon the man, whose lesson hopefully can benefit all of us. As we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Christ, let us truly enkindle in our minds and hearts a sincere, deep and loving gratitude. And let our thankfulness show itself in our thoughts, words and deeds - that we may give to God and others what He has given to us: a selfless, all-giving love.