Kindness

This morning, while shopping at the supermarket, I passed by a large trolley where a shop assistant was piling up boxes. I noticed two of them were on the ground.

Fearing that I had inadvertently dropped them, I apologised, picked up the boxes and placed them on the trolley.

The shop assistant thanked me and said not to worry, then called after me: ‘Kindness is rare!’. Another person who was passing by just at that moment confirmed: “That’s very true!” whereupon the shop assistant, by way of explanation, told her what had happened.

As for me, I was happy, not least because this little episode reminded me of a phrase I had heard some time ago which had struck me. It spoke about “sowing kindness”. It felt like a ‘caress’ from God.

G.S. – Italy (*)

Healing relationships

I have a brother, a Catholic Christian, who married a German woman from the Evangelical Church. When they settled in Italy, the relationship between my mother and sister-in-law was not easy, even though she was not against their children being educated in the Catholic Church. As for me, I tried to be a ‘mediator’ between her and my mother. My sister-in-law also suffered because of this misunderstanding, which was however healed shortly before our mother died. For some time now, I have been sharing the ‘Thought for the Day’ with her via Whatsapp which helps us to live Gospel-based love on a daily basis. One day the thought invited us to ‘be merciful’, with this short commentary sentence: “Mercy is a love that knows how to welcome every neighbour, especially the poorest and neediest. A love that does not measure, is abundant, universal, concrete”. Her response was immediate: ‘If I have made you feel bad in certain circumstances over the past years, please forgive me”. Astonished, I replied in turn: “I too apologise”. And she: “I don’t remember any incident for which need to apologise…’.

C. – Italy (*)

Called and sent

Someone very dear to me asked me to write something about my experience as a teacher for an acquaintance of hers from another country who was doing a project on values education.

I realised that it was an opportunity to transform into a testimony and ‘proclamation’ what, in some ways, has been my personal response to the ‘call’ to live according to the teachings of the Gospel as a teacher and as a mother.

The piece took many hours of writing, deleting, correcting, rewriting, remembering aspects that I could add, deleting others that seemed irrelevant and, above all, filtering each word with love. I tried to put myself in the place of the person I was writing for, because even though I did not know her, I could love Jesus in her.

I sent it to my friend, aware that it might not be exactly what she needed, and so was ready to change everything.

To my surprise, she replied: “I have already sent your letter. I really liked it”. No doubt it was not the writing itself that was liked, but the work that God had done in me which could be a little light for others by being shared.

And, of course, the other things I had to do in those days were easily taken care of, as there had been some changes in the rota that left me with more free time.

C.M. – Argentina

Edited by Carlos Mana
Photo © StockSnap-Pixabay

(*) From ‘The Gospel of the Day’ November-December, Città Nuova, Rome 2024.