Metropolitan Onuphry speaks about the impact of gratitude on human life

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine. Photo: UOC

In his Sunday sermon, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry used the parable of the healing of the ten lepers to explain why people should give thanks to God. According to the UOC press service, the Primate emphasized that it is people who need gratitude, rather than God.

His Beatitude observed that people sometimes question the necessity of thanking God.

“God does not need our gratitude. Our gratitude is needed for ourselves,” he said.

Metropolitan Onuphry stressed that everything we have is a gift from God. “When a person is grateful to God, they become capable of receiving even greater blessings from Him. However, an ungrateful person becomes unworthy even of what they already have,” the Metropolitan explained.

The Archbishop noted that this is precisely why God desires us to be grateful. In his view, it is an opportunity to become better.

“May the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters, to be grateful to God in our lives for everything – for life itself, for all the blessings we enjoy, both those we know of and those we do not. We must thank God for every day and for the opportunity to partake in the sweetness of the Divine Mysteries every day. Life is beautiful when it is with God,” concluded His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

As reported earlier, the Primate officiated the patronal feast at St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv.

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