I recall a time when I was traveling with some business associates and stopped to give a panhandler the few dollars I had in my wallet. As we walked away, one of the associates looked at me and said, “That was a stupid thing to do. Don’t you know that you’re just feeding their drug or alcohol addiction?” I replied, “How do you know that?” His quick response was, “Everyone knows that.” I remember leaving that incident thinking that I had done something wrong. Thomas Merton said that it is hard to see what to do in these situations “because we are too distracted by our own problems and are still too caught up in our own neuroses, ambitions, woundedness and false values to be of much help to the poor.” Jesus had a heart for the least, the lost and the forgotten. In imitation of him, we should focus our lives on living a life “full of gratitude, celebration, deep friendship, and contemplative prayer.” When these elements are in our lives, graciousness automatically spills over so that when the less fortunate cry out, we know what to do.