I find it an effort to make friendly phone calls that sometimes take as long as an hour.

I have a friend who lives in a senior residence in another state. She's single and has no close family.  Ever since she was 20 she has suffered from severe spine and neck pain due to an auto accident. We haven't met face-to-face for over 50 years, but I call her every few months, and I've sent her some DVDs she wanted to watch.

Lately her condition has gotten worse.  The other evening, the Feast of St. Nicholas, I "forced" myself do an act of love and phone her.

During that month, I had been trying to live the Word of Life:

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Lk 3:4)

She has a sense of humor, and when I ask how she is, she always says, "I’m not bad  for the shape I’m in."  After telling her my news tidbits, it was her turn to talk about how she had been lately. I was fascinated by one secret she shared: She told how she’d arranged with a cousin to buy a number of chocolate candies from a fancy shop and bring them to her. She’s on a small, fixed income, and each candy cost 49 cents. Each was shaped and wrapped to look like Santa Claus.

On Dec. 5, when all the residents of the facility had gone to bed, my friend tip-toed around the first and second floors to put a candy at each doorway. Each candy had a tag she’d typed that said, "Someone loves you. Happy St. Nicholas Day." She got  sugar free chocolate for two diabetic residents. She had been doing this for three  years. On Christmas Eve she was planning to leave a filled stocking at each doorway.

I phoned to cheer her, but her love and sacrifice for her neighbors blew me away. And because I took the step, she had someone with whom to share her happy secret.

D.M., Chicago