Many of us support CAFOD with our prayers and gifts, along with many other Catholic organisations, but there are many different kinds of gifts, as this week’s story will show.

There was once an elderly lady who didn't see too well and lived alone and was encouraged by her friends to take up crochet to help keep her active. She didn't always notice when she dropped a stitch or two, but doing something useful gave her great enjoyment and fulfilment in her life. Friends and neighbours gave her all their odd balls of wool and she always chose the most colourful to crochet squares, which she eventually stitched together to form a blanket. Whenever there was an appeal for clothes and blankets to be given to one of the poorest African countries, she gladly donated her most colourful blanket and then immediately started work on the next one.

Sometime later, In one of these African countries, Christian Aid workers were trying to buy some land from the local headman of a small village so they could extend their clinic, but they had great difficulty negotiating with the headman who steadfastly refused to give up any of his land. Then one day a consignment of blankets arrived in the village from the U.K. the headman was amongst those present and as the blankets were unpacked, he noticed one brightly coloured crocheted one. Picking it up, he immediately told the charity workers, that if he could have this blanket, then they could have their piece of land. Agreement was finally reached and he walked off proudly with his colourful blanket wrapped around his shoulders followed by most of the villagers and leaving a thankful team of aid workers behind.

From the best the old lady had managed to achieve in her crochet work, came the priceless gift of land for the much needed clinic extension. “God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.”