A few years ago, my wife Stephanie and I took a group of our parish teens on a summer mission trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. We were blessed to spend the week working with an organization called Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly. This is a group that works with elderly people who have lost ties with family, have no family at all, and face the reality of simply being alone.
We did a number of activities with them including social gatherings, a river boat cruise, and a trip to the museum. We also had opportunities to work at some of their homes doing various tasks that needed to be done.
During the week, our group befriended an elderly gentleman. We spent an entire day working at his home cleaning his kitchen and taking care of the overgrown yard (and dealing with an incredible amount of poison ivy). Our teens fell in love with him, and he in turn fell in love with them. At the end of the week, everyone was sad that we had to leave him. He asked to keep all of our name tags so he could always remember us and how much we meant to him. We gladly obliged. And then, we headed back home.
We found out a year or so later that our friend had passed away. The organization wanted to let us know that when they were cleaning out his house, they found all of our name tags sitting prominently on the top of his dresser. Sometimes you just never know the impact your actions have on others.
As we are now into the second week of Lent, let us ask ourselves: are we being Christ to others? Are we being a life-giving tree, stretching out our roots to help those in need, or are we a barren bush in the desert of our own selfishness? What are we doing with our lives? How are we treating others? Lent is the perfect time for a change of attitude and a change of habits. May we have the discipline so that what we outwardly declare this Lent may be inwardly brought about. Happy are those who trust in the Lord, for they shall bear fruit.
