I find myself becoming bothered when I see and hear people not doing the right thing. Most of the time, not doing the right thing is just showing a lack of kindness while preserving a sense of self-interest. Yet, in this Sunday’s second reading, we hear a very simple instruction on how to live: “Be kind to one another.”
Kindness is one of the many tools that God gives us. If you expand the quote above from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, you will see other tools to use as well: compassion and forgiveness. However, as humans we also carry tools of bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, and malice in our toolboxes. St. Paul instructs us to remove those bad tools from our toolboxes and more actively use our good tools; those of compassion, kindness, and forgiveness.
Now, we’ve all used the bad tools at some point, myself included. Yet no matter how many times I use those bad tools (in poor judgement and times of weakness), God still shows me kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
This is why St. Paul instructs us to be imitators of Christ. However, if we are to do this, we need to toss out the bad tools, be kinder, and put others first… even when we don’t think they deserve it.
Let’s face it, it is easy to show kindness when others are kind. However, it is not so easy when others put us down, gossip, raise their voice, or act unkindly towards us. Let’s look for opportunities this week to dust off and use our tools of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness… especially when we think someone may not deserve it.
