We were at the Latin Mass yesterday, and on the other side of the pew was an older gentleman who kept looking over at out family. The two youngest were being their usual fidgety selves, so my husband assumed “oh, they are distracting him…” Later he brought them in the back.
After Mass, the gentleman approached my husband and told him “your children are so well behaved, here take this and buy them a little something nice.” He handed my husband a few bills. At first glance there were a few singles on top, so my husband thought “Oh, a couple of dollars. That was very kind of him.” Later my husband pulled out the wad and unraveled it: two singles, a five, a ten a twenty…thirty seven dollars. My husband went back out to find the genetleman to tell him we couldn’t possibly accept that much money, but he was gone.
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How nice!
met by angels unaware!
if you aren’t in need of the money, remember that you’re free to pass it on, but the import here also involves the blessing the old man will receive. praise be to God! i LOVE this kind of story. thanks for sharing.
That happened to us once. Well, it’s a venerable Catholic custom to pray for one’s benefactors; say a family Rosary for the old man, and he will benefit, too.
What a sweet story….
Fr. Dowd says there’s a French saying for things like this that says something like, “God is winking at you.”
When people do things like that with me, I sometimes like to wonder if they were actually angels in human form (Hey — why can’t an angel give you $37.00?) or graced human people carrying out one of the million tiny missions that God gave them. It’s fun to speculate on it — especially if you have $37.00 worth of free ice cream!
“God winking” — that is adorable.
My take? Have dinner out or LOTS of ice cream–something that you wouldn’t normally do. (unless, of course, you have a bill of $37 for something that you just couldn’t pay otherwise).
It was meant to be a blessing for you and yours.
Take it that way and enjoy it. If you go out to eat, make him the intention of your grace before the meal.
That’s lovely!