Micah 6:8

Legalism or acts of charity?

Psalm 50 puts it another way: a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors God, not religious rituals and memorization of prayers.

A sacrifice of thanksgiving gives back to God what is already due–everything. In this way, we are “acting justly, loving tenderly (by growing in love for God), and walking humbly (resisting the prideful temptation that we are operating out of our own benevolence, i.e. “Aren’t I something?”).

Be still…can you hear me?

Carving out 10-15 minutes every day to be alone and silent with God is essential to being thankful. We may not “hear” God speaking to us but He does speak, and almost always outside prayer.

Mother Angelica, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) said,

“God speaks to us often. Through parents, friends, relatives, conditions, circumstances, and everything that happens to us. Every moment of the day He is speaking to us and many times He encourages us to do good things for our neighbor, for the Kingdom.”

Daily Quotes from Mother Angelica, Perpetual Calendar (2017), July 17.

What about religious phenomena?

Miraculous signs are not necessarily indicative that the people who witness them are more holy than others (look at Saul before he became Paul), they are meant to convey a message to that person and to future generations https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/9.

They remind us to stop and listen to God to build up our faith.

God’s answers come to us outside prayer…

…to show us He listens to the concerns we bring to Him in prayer and that He has answered those prayers, or to give us a sense of peace that He is working on it in His own good time.