Did we forget to laugh?

Did you ever get so serious about life and living that you forget to laugh? I know it's Lent and we need to be serious and prayerful during this penetential time. However, our good Lord wants us to have deep joy of heart. He wants us to experience it fully in our lives. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta used to say, "Joy is a net to catch souls." So, just how many souls do you think we're going to "catch" with our seriousness or grumpiness? Even throughout our earthly trials we are called to joy. We can have joy when we pray to Jesus asking that He unite our small sufferings to His. We are called to share our joy with others in our smiles, in our extending our hand to someone, in our care to our family members, our associations in the workplace, in our help to the needy, the lonely, the poor, the forgotten. Love and joy can convert hearts! Is there someone we are forgetting to show love and joy to?

The warmth of a smile

Yesterday when I was walking down town, I was passing a homeless man whom I recognized from seeing him around town. He was walking up the sidewalk, I was walking down. I stopped to say, "Hello." I figure that generally people don't give the homeless very much attention and I wanted to give him some. I said, "It's pretty cold out here today" (the temperature was below freezing). He replied, "Well, if the wind doesn't blow, it's not too bad, and if I keep my hands in my pockets, it helps." He was continuing to walk up the sidewalk to wherever his destination was, most likely the post office to stay warm for a while or the library. I smiled and told him to "keep warm." He smiled back and kept walking.

What are we doing to help the homeless?