Faith like a child’s and gratitude for the little things help us all get through difficult times.Little Daniel Oliveira, a 6-year-old in first grade at Shalom School in Fortaleza, Brazil, wrote an unusual note found by a teacher in the school chapel, on top of the altar, next to an apple: “Thank you Jesus for answering my prayer. I hope you like the apple.”
Daniel’s gratitude refers to an incident which was very sad, to say the least: He and his mother, Evelyn Oliveira, were victims of a robbery when a thief stole the boy’s backpack, thinking it contained his mother’s cell phone. Yes, a grown man assaulted a mother accompanied by her 6-year-old son and stole the child’s backpack.
Marley Oliveira, Daniel’s father, reported to comshalom.org that the little boy was very sad: “He went out on the balcony and, looking up at the sky, said, ‘Jesus, please make the man return my things. I love my lunchbox, my backpack and my books so much … Please!’”
Marley then shared how a woman helped recover Daniel’s belongings. Two days later, he had all his stuff back.
Daniel’s father saw him go back out on the same balcony where he had addressed Jesus after the robbery, but this time to give thanks: “Jesus, thank You so much! I’m going to bring You an apple, because I like apples and I know You’ll like it too.”
Daniel made good on his word, and as soon as his parents bought him the apple, he went to put the fruit in the most logical place he could think of, to offer it to Jesus: the altar in the school’s chapel.
His father sums up the lesson: “We saw how small we are. Sometimes we want to speak beautifully to please God, but it is when we speak with simplicity that He listens to us.”
During these days when many people are worried about the novel coronavirus, Our Lord will surely be hearing and answering many prayers. How many people will take the time, like this little child, to show gratitude in a concrete way for God’s help?
Anecdotes like this one help us understand Jesus’ words: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).
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