June 3, 2023
“Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don’t remember me at all.”
– Laura Ingles Wilder
St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at. Do it for peace. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light his light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of everyone all hatred and love for power.”
In the Old Testament, the word “smile” is rarely used, although biblical scholars suggest the Hebrew word for “shining” is synonymous with smiling. When you read about God’s face shining, particularly in the Psalms, that means God is smiling at you. For example, Psalm 80 says, “O Lord, God of hosts, restore us; cause your face to shine upon us and we will be saved.”
How could a woman like Mother Teresa, who spent her entire life ministering to the sick and dying on the streets of Calcutta, find something worth smiling about? She knew suffering and she knew grief, but she also knew joy because she knew Jesus.
This unassuming saint of Calcutta also said, “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do” and “Every time you smile at someone it is an action of love. A gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love,” she said. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”
How, you wonder, can you smile in your grief? There’s too much pain, there’s too much anxiety. But a smile can express many things — compassion, mercy, understanding, sympathy, empathy and love. And you will certainly smile when you call to mind memories of laughter and joy that the person you lost has left behind. Remember them and smile.
***
A smile is a token of love, even when you smile to yourself.