Love is kind...

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2008

Love is kind...

Kindness can be really powerful. 

Pope John 23rd was known throughout the world for his kindness. He was ordained an archbishop and sent to Bulgaria for 10 years to work among people in a country that was mostly Orthodox and highly hostile to Catholics -but he broke right through the barriers because he was so kind to them. Then he was sent to Turkey to work among the Muslims who also were very hostile to Catholics, but he somehow broke through their hostilities with the same weapon of kindness. Then he was sent to Greece -a country that was an arch-enemy of Turkey, and when a famine broke out in the country he used the tool of kindness to convince the Turks to give the starving Greek children over the equivalent of $100,000 of aid. During WWII -through his witness of kindness -he convinced a Catholic Nazi to help him save 24,000 Jews from Turkey. And when he was sent to an atheist Paris after the War, he was able to connect with the post-Christian era elite simply through the words of kindness. The single virtue of kindness itself -lived out fully by Pope John 23rd -did wonders to change the world.

Love is kind. Do one extra act of kindness today for each person you work with, meet, live with -or for a person who is especially difficult for you. Do one act of kindness, and you will be doing an act of love that can change the world.

Only Love transforms the world.