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Email a FriendPosted by justamom on Friday, Apr 23, 2010 10:50 AM (EDT):
AMEN !!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Grace to Cultivate Kindness
Today's Small Steps Toward Kindness
Posted by Elizabeth Foss in Faith on Friday, April 23, 2010 10:00 AM
Think: “Devout people are, as a class, the least kind of all classes. This is a scandalous thing to say; but the scandal of the fact is so much greater than the scandal of acknowledging it, that I will brave this last, for the sake of a greater good. Religious people are an unkindly lot.
Poor human nature cannot do everything; and kindness is too often left uncultivated, because men do not sufficiently understand its value. Men may be charitable, yet not kind; merciful, yet not kind; self-denying, yet not kind. If they would add a little common kindness to their uncommon graces, they would convert ten where they now only abate the prejudices of one. There is a sort of spiritual selfishness in devotion, which is rather to be regretted than condemned.
I should not like to think it is unavoidable. Certainly its interfering with kindness is not unavoidable. It is only a little difficult, and calls for watchfulness. Kindness, as a grace, is certainly not sufficiently cultivated, while the self-gravitating, self-contemplating, self-inspecting parts of the spiritual life are cultivated too exclusively.
Rightly considered, kindness is the grand cause of God in the world. Where it is natural, it must forthwith be supernaturalized. Where it is not natural, it must be supernaturally planted. What is our life? It is a mission to go into every corner it can reach, and reconquer for God’s beatitude His unhappy world back to Him. It is a devotion of ourselves to the bliss of the Divine Life by the beautiful apostolate of kindness.”
—Fr. Frederick William Faber
Pray: Lord, I am learning that not only does my unkindness hurt the people around me, it robs me of your precious grace. Please open me to your grace and cultivate kindness in my soul. I want to be an apostle for the good, the kind, and the true! Please make me a pure vessel of your kindness.
Act: Don’t be selfish. Don’t do it. Don’t be the devout soul who is so focused on her own right thinking and right practice that she overlooks the beautiful apostolate of kindness. Instead, be the kind soul, the woman who goes the extra mile to lighten someone else’s load, to offer an encouraging word, and to bear inevitable burdens of life with genuine grace and joy. Renew the prayer above every day and make kindness the habit of your heart.
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Posted by Jennifer on Friday, Apr 23, 2010 1:27 PM (EDT):
As I pulled into the church parking lot this morning for Mass, I cringed when I saw a certain group of people entering the church. I remembered why I didn’t like to attend this Mass - the group of mean old church ladies sometimes made me feel like being in high school again. But I went and I actually had a nice conversation with one of them afterwards. I don’t expect people to be nice or kind to me at the grocery store or at the post office, but I do expect people to be kind if they are daily communicants. That’s not always the case and it’s hard to accept that.
Your post made me smile, Elizabeth! These thoughts are so important and it’s a message I try to keep near to my heart as I work with children and see how much hurt the opposite of kindness does, especially to these little souls. Thank you for sharing and for the beautiful prayer that I will copy to pray each day!
Posted by Elizabeth Foss on Friday, Apr 23, 2010 7:34 PM (EDT):
Angela,
They are all from the Spiritual Conferences book. I found a link to it here: http://store.catholic.net/title/Spiritual-Conferences/SKU/1573/
I’m glad you all have enjoyed these small posts:-)
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