How can I thank you? You gave me life when in your foreknowledge you knew I did not deserve a second of it.
How can I thank you? You formed me in the womb of my mother when I was only a prayer in her heart.
How can I thank you? You made me a living miracle when top physicians thought I would die in a couple of years due to aortic aneurysm and insufficiency - How is it possible that the top cardiologist in Canada recently admitted that You proved them wrong...
How can I thank you? You proved that love is stronger than life itself when my parents sacrificed much for me and my brothers. How is it that my mother sold jewels to only satisfy my request to be with me before my heart surgery? How is it that they listened to my little voice saying a 7-years old child "Mass" at home imitating your priests? How is it that my dad asked me to read him from the Bible while he was suffering before his death? How is it that you made them trust in the prayer of a great sinner?
How can I thank you? You wedded me to a woman who, in spite of my demanding character, supported me in my illnesses and dark nights - a woman who never quit but, blessed by You, she gave me three precious children...- a woman who silently worked and still works hard at home and in school in love of this family...
How can I thank you? When I was bleeding and near death after my kidney cancer surgery, the physician in charge at the hospital informed me that they had already used 4 litres of blood transfusion and could not give me more. Yet, you stretched your hand - I do not know how - and brought back my blood count so as to extend my life.
How can I thank you? When my mother of blessed memory and my dear wife were nearly heart-broken in the longer-than-expected 6-hours heart surgery that I underwent, you brought us back together that my mother-in-law of blessed memory bowed and kissed the ground when she saw me back home.
How can I thank you? You allowed us to immigrate to this land of freedom through the generosity of my aunt and her husband who dearly loved my devout dad. Do I ever forget their sacrifices as they, without children, considered us their children?
How can I thank you? In the past years since my illness, You sent me brothers and sisters, everyone in the extended family, friends; close and far from Toronto, Cairo, Paris, Alexandria, Montreal, Jerusalem, Belgium, and Beirut - All asking and praying for me.
How can I thank you? I, the son of earth: this is my name - can receive You the Son of the Most High in the Eucharist.
After my recovery from stroke in 2007, my wife said to me "How is it that you are still worried? If I were you I would dance of joy."
In my daily prayer I only say one "Hail Mary..." and the rest I leave it to You since, after all what You did with me O Love Eternal, You cannot reject me, nor anyone for whom the beloved Mother of God prays.
