Peace Begins With A Smile

A friend gave me a magnet and on it appeared "Peace Begins With A Smile" underneath it was in small print Mother Teresa.

This morning I'm watching all the Haitian devastation on TV and the looting going on and then the next thing is a little 5 year old who was rescued yesterday after being buried in rubble for EIGHT days! He was so skinny and covered in dust. He was smiling which made me think about that magnet.

So then I was thinking about that magnet, as with all things related to Mother Teresa there is always, "The rest of the Story!" so I went and Googled the saying.


"Let us thank God for his gift of peace that reminds us that we have been created to live that peace and that Jesus became man in all things like us except in sin, and he proclaimed very clearly that he had come to give the good news. The news was peace to all men of good will and this is something that we all want – peace of heart.

"Let us preach the peace of Christ as he did. He went about doing good. He did not stop his works of charity because the Pharisees and others hated him or tried to spoil his Father’s work. He just went about doing good. Cardinal Newman wrote: ‘Help me to spread thy fragrance everywhere I go – let me preach thee without preaching, not by words, but by my example.’ Our works of love are nothing but the works of peace.

Let us not use guns and bombs to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile – smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at at all – do it for peace. So let us radiate the peace of God and so light his light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men all hatred and love for power.

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta"

So today as you go along your daily life.  If you come across some unpleasant situation  or person that angers you, instead of a frown turn it upside down and flash that smile. You know they say that smiles are contagious!


And as Andy Rooney would say, "and that's the rest of the story." 

Haiti & My Reality Check

So this morning I'm whinning to God...well wait a minute I guess I should back up. Those of you who know me, know that my Dad has recently had congestive heart failure and been in the hospital. Well yesterday Mom couldn't walk. She was in such pain that I told her she needed to go to the hospital.

I called the ambulance for her and off she went. I made Dad stay home because he couldn't walk around the hospital and I went with her.  It was late when I got home and this morning I awoke thinking gee I can't go to the Basilica with my friend today and I have to miss my regular time of  Mass this morning because I have to go get Mom's meds. I'm thinking...I just don't have life anymore...........ok now you are caught up.

So I'm whinning to God, "Gee God, I'm not sure how much of this I can take. Please give me your Grace to get through this. This is so difficult." And I'm also asking Him basically to take away my cross.  AND THEN CNN REPORTER is talking about Haiti and he's saying it's remarkable because everywhere in all this tragedity people are just spontaneously thanking God. Praising God JOYOUSLY...he said it's amazing.

And I think to myself, you have NO cross compared to the people in Haiti and they can stop and praise God in the midst of their horror..............TODAY. I'm just going to look in my parents eyes and see the eyes of Jesus & thank God that I have 2 parents and that I can spend time with them even if it's to spend it in hospitals or in service to them.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40