It Would Have Been EnoughFebruary 23, 2026

It Would Have Been Enough

I learn a lot from our St. Noel Church choir beyond the music that we sing in our ministry for our parish.

For example, we were recently introduced to the concept of “dayenu”, a Hebrew word that means “It would have been enough.” For over a thousand years, the Jewish people have included a song of Dayenu, gratitude at Passover to God for all God’s gifts, beginning with God’s bringing them out of Egypt, even though just that alone would have been enough. The song goes on to thank God for the Exodus, for the Promised Land, for manna in the desert, for the Torah, for the Sabbath, and for the Temple. Each one “would have been enough.”

Our music ministry director wrote a version of this hymn that goes further, thanking God for becoming one of us, for loving us beyond death and into resurrection, for giving us the Spirit, for God’s faithfulness to every generation. (You can hear the hymn on YouTube; just search for “It Would Have Been Enough” or “Tony Ward music” or click on the link: It Would Have Been Enough - Tony Ward.)

It strikes me that Lent is a great time to recall all of God’s gifts to me, even though just one of them would have been enough.

If you had just given me life, it would have been enough.

If you had just graced me with Baptism into Christ and his church, it would have been enough.

If you had just offered yourself in bread and wine, it would have been enough, O God.

What gifts from God are in your life, each of which “would have been enough?”

Sister Elaine Berkopec