Your Smile Might Save A Life

Miracles did not stop occurring after Jesus’ death on the cross. Miracles increased after His death and the number of people through whom these miracles were occurring, increased as well. “Rise and walk” were the words Peter used in Acts 3:6 when he cured the crippled beggar.  Jesus has been working miracles through His followers ever since. Today might be the day that God plans to work a miracle through you. If you fail to respond to His call to action, someone may lose out on a miracle. That would be a haunting tragedy. Don’t let this happen. Please read more…

In my retreats, I often tell a story about the little boy who offered Jesus his loaves and fishes in John 6:9.  I also wrote about this story in one of my earliest 4th Day Letters. In that letter, I wrote the following paragraph.

Did Jesus need the boy? Did Jesus need the original loaves and fishes to feed everyone? Of course not! Jesus is God, the Creator of all that is. Jesus could have snapped His fingers and the entire crowd could have had Outback steaks, plates, forks, knives and napkins included. But that was not God’s plan. Jesus performed that miracle because someone, in this case the little boy, responded lovingly to His calling. And because of the little boy’s loving and unselfish act, thousands of people witnessed a miracle of Jesus.

The New Testament contains many stories of Jesus’ followers performing signs, wonders and miracles. Acts 14:3 speaks of Paul and Barnabas at Iconium and the wonders being done at their hands. Acts 19:11-12 gives us this account: “So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

Today, God may have plans to heal someone or provide them a much-needed miracle, and He might be planning on doing this through you. Whether you act or fail to act, you may never know how your action or lack of action impacted the other person.

Far too often we wander through life living out the lyrics from the opening song in Les Misérables. Those lyrics are as follows: “Look down, look down, don’t look ’em in the eye.”  Frequently we are unmindful of the needs of others. We sometimes react like the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:29-37.  What did the Levite do when he saw the half-dead man along the road? He passed him by after crossing over to the opposite side of the road.

This week I was made aware of a true story and it reminded me of the importance of responding to God’s call to help others. Even an action as small as a smile could literally be a life-saving miracle for someone.

The story was about the Golden Gate Bridge being the world’s leading suicide location. One person’s story really piqued my interest. According to the story, Dr. Jerome Motto, a psychiatrist, had a patient who jumped to his death from the bridge in the mid-seventies.  Dr. Motto went to the man’s apartment after the suicide. The doctor said this. “The guy was in his thirties, lived alone, pretty bare apartment. He’d written a note and left it on his bureau. It said, ‘I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.”

What a haunting story and tragic outcome. The man encountered no smiles and he leapt to his death.  Would we have smiled if we would have passed this man as he walked to the bridge? Someone’s simple smile could have been this man’s life saving miracle.

A few of the words from one of my favorite songs came to my mind as I read that story. The song is The Servant Song written by Richard Gillard and Betty C. Pulkingham. It contains these lyrics:

Will you let me be your servant.

Let me be as Christ to you.

Pray that I might have the grace

To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.

We are brothers on the road.

We are here to help each other

Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will weep when you are weeping.

When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow

Till we’ve seen this journey through.

This song points out something very important. Sometimes it is others in need and sometimes it is you and I who are in need. When we are the ones in need, we must be willing to allow others to be Christ for us.

I will close with this important reminder. Let’s never cause someone to lose their miracle because we fail to respond to God’s call! He is counting on us!

Heavenly Father give me the courage to respond to your call and allow the Christ in me to heal the needs of others. Amen

As always, I love to read your comments below as well as hear from you personally by clicking here.


Don’t forget to mark your calendars

On December 6-8, 2019, I will be leading a 3 day Advent Retreat. Catholics as well as non-Catholics are welcome to attend. Fr. Ed Sheridan will join us to celebrate Catholic mass and Reconciliation will be available. Author Joseph Galloway will be giving a talk about his book The Broken Door and will be signing books. The retreat is being held at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory, NC. It’s beautiful! I hope you can join us. Click this link to sign up.

Brian Pusateri
Latest posts by Brian Pusateri (see all)

14 Comments

  1. Jim Meersman on October 30, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    Brian: Another great article, it is chilling about not smiling could cause a person’s life. Keep up the great work. Jim

    • Brian Pusateri on October 30, 2019 at 4:58 pm

      Jim

      Thanks for your kind words. Yes it is scary to know that someone could lose a miracle when we fail to be Christ to them.

      Brian

  2. Lemoine Klug on October 30, 2019 at 9:02 am

    I will include Gina in my Rosary today. Two weeks ago I did a presentation at RCIA on Christian Community, I opened by playing the Servant Song. During Cursillo weekend several years ago this song was our theme, it has stuck with me as reminder of what God expects of me.
    Thanks for continuing your ministry, it inspires all of you have touched.

    Lemoine

    • Brian Pusateri on October 30, 2019 at 10:42 am

      Lemoine

      it is always good to hear from you . I am glad you enjoyed the song. May God continue to bless all that you do.

      Brian

  3. Kristi Maher on October 29, 2019 at 10:24 pm

    I am going to place Gina and her daughter on the St. John Neumann prayer chain which is 150 people strong!

    Thank you Brian for your inspirational messages. We all must remember that we can make a difference, not necessarily by doing great things, but, as Saint Mother Teresa said, by doing small things with great love!

    • Brian Pusateri on October 30, 2019 at 4:06 am

      Kristi

      It was a tremendous blessing to be with your parish for three days. Thank you for adding Gena to your parish prayer chain. I know Doug really appreciates your help. I will also add her name in both of my prayer groups this week.

      Brian

  4. paul on October 29, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    Your notes always serve to remind me ” there is more to life than increasing it’s speed “

  5. Paul Coletta on October 29, 2019 at 3:41 pm

    Wonderful Tuesday letter. (:
    God Bless you.

  6. Doug Blocksom on October 29, 2019 at 11:24 am

    Hi Brian,
    Your message really touched me today and the timing is good… Susan and I are praying for a young lady with a 5 year old daughter…. we may have shared this story on our last visit with you about a young mom going through a very hard divorce and Susan and I took care of her little girl Isabelle last summer for 6 weeks while the mother was working through some very difficult times… The Lord blessed her with a new home and a very good job so she can provide for her daughter and she is coming to church when she can, (nurse)…. She has just been diagnosed this week with leukemia, she is getting more testing for her conditions and consulting on treatment… We are praying for a miracle for her cancer and for her life. With all of your readers I would ask that everyone who reads this ask the Lord for his healing touch… her name is Gina. I don’t know how many readers you have, but I would love to share how many potential people are praying for her through this ministry.

    Thank you so much Brian for your ministry and your wisdom…it is of the Lord!
    Blessings you you my brother,
    Doug

    • Brian Pusateri on October 29, 2019 at 11:34 am

      Doug

      I pray that everyone who reads this will offer prayers for Gina. I will certainly add her to my prayers.

      Brian

  7. Bob Davis on October 29, 2019 at 3:05 am

    Brian,

    What a poignant reminder about the power that even a simple act of charity or human kindness can have on a life!

    We may usually never know what effect we have, but sometimes we do get affirmations – immediately or even much, much later – about how God can work a miracle through us for another person. He can and will multiply what gifts we share, even a smile.

    I also love the messages of “The Servant Song” and “Les Misérables”. If you pay attention to the lyrics towards the end of “Les Misérables” , then you may realize that it reverses the hopelessness and isolation of the opening “Look Down” lyrics. Towards the end we hear:

    “And remember
    The truth that once was spoken:
    To love another person
    Is to see the face of God!”

    Peace,
    Bob

    • Brian Pusateri on October 29, 2019 at 3:40 am

      Bob

      Thank you for a wonderful post. I really appreciate you sharing the words from the end of the song. They really do emphasize the point.

      May God’s blessing be with you!
      Brian

Leave a Comment