“And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” (Wisdom 12,19) Kindness and hope go hand in hand in life. When we witness an act of kindness it gives us hope for our future. A world full of kindness is a world destined for happiness and peace. Kindness is an attribute of God. God is kind. God is always kind and merciful. (Psalm 103,8; 145,8) His kindness is demonstrated in his distribution of grace. Graciousness and kindness are synonymous. God wants to freely share with his children his kindness and mercy. In exercising kindness, God is sharing with us his divine being and nature, he is pouring out his Spirit upon us and filling us with love and grace. As God has been kind, merciful and forgiving to us, so must we be kind, merciful and forgiving to one another.

Too often we are afraid that kindness is a form of weakness. We can be tempted to believe that if I’m kind, I will be duped and taken advantage of, or that if I’m kind, people will see me as weak and not respect me. However, kindness is in fact the perfection of power. God told St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12,8) Kindness is a true act of power for it unites us to the power of God to transform the world in grace and mercy. Kindness gives the gift of self and demonstrates that a person is confident in their own giftedness and value. Acts of kindness have the power to transform people’s lives. Kindness is evidence that God’s grace permeates a person’s entire being and overflows in acts of kindness.

Kindness is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5,22). To be kind is to participate in the divine life of God. When we put on Christ we put on kindness: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.” (Col 3,12-14) Kindness is a virtue that overcomes the vice of envy. When we choose to be kind and offer acts of kindness to others we are truly living in the Spirit of God. Kindness is something that is written deeply into our spirit by the Spirit of God. Truly the Spirit “comes to the aid of our weakness,” (Rom 8,26) and pours God’s grace and love into our hearts (Rom 5,5). Therefore, hope does not disappoint and we have “good ground for hope” that God will be kind in judging us and will be lenient with our sins.

Throughout the Sacred Scripture we are reminded that God is both just and merciful. When we consider the justice and mercy of God we might tend to think of them as two polar opposites. In justice God condemns but in mercy he saves. Many think of a just God as a vengeful God who is full of wrath and a merciful God as a forgiving God who is filled with love. Properly understood, the perfection of justice in God’s judgment is revealed as mercy and the depth of mercy revealed in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross fulfills the demands of justice. In Jesus, truly God’s justice and mercy have kissed and become one.

In the parable of the Weeds and the Wheat (Mt 13,24-43), we see God’s kindness, patience and mercy at work. God doesn’t just destroy the weeds with a heavy hand but he waits patiently until the final judgement when the weeds will reveal their true nature by their failure to bear any fruit. God plants only good seed in this world, the good seed of his Word, and it is an enemy who has sown the weeds among the wheat. In his kindness, God doesn’t want to see any of the good wheat destroyed and so he leaves it until the end to sort out the weeds from the wheat. Only the angels, with their pure nature, are able to truly recognize the good from the evil. If the judgment was left up to human beings we would all be in trouble. There are some people who see weeds everywhere. Everything to them seems to be a weed. God teaches us kindness and patience, hope and optimism. We are called to work to grow wheat and not to worry so much about the weeds. In the end it will all be sorted out in the final judgment, until then let us stand together on the good ground of hope.