Kindness

On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.  He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.  Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."  Luke 14: 12 - 14

This reading always reminds me of how we should act toward one another.  We so often rush through the day busily anticipating the next activity or call that needs to be returned and we forget those little acts of kindness that we are called to do.  It is the seemingly simple things life holding the door for someone to walk through, letting a car pull out in front of us, saying hello to someone passing by or giving someone a dollar to put toward a meal or coffee.  Whatever the action isn’t it better to try to be kind than to get caught up in the competition of our world.  Jesus says that we will find our reward at the end of time, but I believe we find our reward each and every day by practicing random acts of kindness.  If we all try to do the little things with great love then the big things won’t bother us so much will they.

Pat Schifini, OSU