My dear parishioners:

The story of the prophet Elijah and the widow in the First Book of Kings we heard last Sunday is truly a most wonderful gem among the Old Testament's.  Often, this particular story is used to speak about trust in God.  In fact, that is why it was chosen to be the story before the story in the Gospel.  But deep down, there is another theme at work here we don’t think of often enough, because it seems too commonplace and lame: kindness.  That is what Father John Cush, an astute theologian, has suggested.  For many of us, kindness is just another synonym for being nice.  And “nice” is such a stupid and hollow term with no substance!  In fact, we must go beyond the obvious, for, in fact, truly, it was kindness that had inspired the poor widow to offer a stranger the last piece of bread that she herself and her own son needed for survival.  Normally, kindness does not take this extreme form, but even normal kindness is often absent in our day-to-day social interactions.

During the period of time leading up to the election, and even now, we have encountered all forms and manners of rudeness.  Covid quarantine has expressly worsened every type of anti-social behaviors. Everywhere you look, there seems to be a conspicuous absence of kindness in society.  Everywhere you turn, rudeness prevails along with a coarsening of the heart.  People no longer know how to speak to each other, and they don't know how to be kind.
 
What does it mean to be kind?  For sure, it’s not about being nice, it’s not mushy, it’s not wimpy, it’s not maudlin, it’s not sappy, and it’s not saccharine.  What it is really is nothing less than a powerful fruit of the Holy Spirit, as Saint Paul the Apostle instructs us in Galatians 5:22.  Paul takes this further in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13 — you know, the one used at all those weddings: He states that “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;  it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  That is actually the true definition of kindness!
 
For me, in terms of living out this instruction from St. Paul, being kind means doing the right thing, helping out another, and in some cases, if we can’t help, then simply step aside so that others might come in and lend a hand.  Concretely, it means being obliging, anticipating the needs of others, basically getting out of ourselves and our own needs and giving preference to others.  Part of being an adult is triumphing over our own selfishness and recognizing the other in front of us is our brother.  Being kind means being courteous and thoughtful and selfless: from something as simple as a “good morning” to holding the door for another to giving the shirt off your back to a homeless man to giving your last sandwich to a hungry stranger even when your glucose level is crashing!  
 
The widow of Zarephath showed kindness, exceptional kindness, especially in view of the fact that she and her son were starving!  The soul-searching question for me is, Am I being kind, even when I am tired, hungry, or exhausted? Father William Frederick Faber, a contemporary of Saint Newman, stated something that is really sobering and eye-opening for me.  Perhaps Faber’s words should be the start of a new program for the New Evangelization: “Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning; and of these last three have never converted anyone, unless they were kind also.”   
 
Kindness, in the words of St. Paul and Father Faber, is nothing short of Christian charity.  The kindness that converts sinners is the kindness of Christ, the kindness that is given to us by Christ, the kindness that is modeled after Christ’s.  Remember the words of Christ: “I say to you, love your enemies … For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?” (Mt 5:44-46).  Christian kindness is the kindness that is directed toward an enemy as much as toward a friend, toward a stranger as much as toward a family member.  Christian kindness never asks, "What is in it for me?"  Christian kindness, prefigured in the great act of self-sacrifice by the widow, means to give preference to the other in front of me – in the same way Christ gave preference to all of us as He chose the Cross!  Such a kindness that goes all the way to the Cross is the kindness that can save souls, mine included!

Padre