Gestures that make life different

Like St. Martin did
I am a young widow, with 3 children to raise and a shaky financial situation. My salary as a domestic helper was low. One day, as I was entering a church, I noticed a man who looked in distress. His trousers had patches. “Dear Lord, does this man need my help?” I prayed. As I raised my eyes, I noticed a painting of St. Martin, and I knew that I did not have to wait for further signs: St. Martin never used half-measures in putting the commandment of evangelical love into practice. I approached the man. “I’ve just come out of the hospital and I am no longer fit to work,” he told me. “I find myself here, but to tell you the truth, I’d rather step in front of a train and end it all.” I tried to encourage him, saying, “Of course you’ve come to the right place. And you must keep coming back here. God will surely help you.” I gave him what I had earned that day: 80 Swiss francs. The next day my uncle, whom I had not seen for 10 years, paid me an unexpected visit. It was a great joy for us to see each other again. When he was about to go, he handed me an envelope. It contained the sum of 8,000 Swiss francs!

(M.M. – Switzerland)

At the public laundry
Two days ago, I went to the public laundry with my washing. It was a sunny day and there were many women doing their laundry though the wash-house was quite small. We were chattering away when an elderly man who was half-blind arrived. He had a pair of bedsheets, a shirt and his turban to wash, and he asked us to move over a little to give him room. Nobody wanted to do it. Then I thought: “Jesus considers as done to him whatever we do or refuse to do for our brothers.” So I said to the man: “Baba (term of respect used to address the elderly), give me your laundry; I can do it for you!” The other women started to laugh. “Are you serious? With your big family and the mountain of washing you have?” I repeated my offer to the man and started to wash his bedsheet. He was very happy; he gave me a fatherly blessing and before going, he left me a piece of soap which he had held onto for himself. This time nobody laughed. In the silence, something new had happened at the public laundry. One woman lent her basin to another, while another offered a pail of water to someone else who was farther off. A chain of love had begun!

(F.V. – Pakistan)