These two videos, produced by Life Vest Inside are “dedicated to spreading kindness and goodwill and are based upon the philosophy that kindness keeps the world afloat.”
A Deeper Look:
Today I would like to just leave you with a brief thought. It’s hard today to turn on any media device without hearing about the “economic crisis.” Does it mean that we have less to give? Or, perhaps, do we have more to give?
In addition, here are a few words from the Pope Benedict’s address from November 2012 to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s square to pray the Angelus. He comments on the two widows that were mentioned in that Sunday’s readings. What do they have in common? They are both poor and, yet, they both have something to give.
God always asks for our free adherence to faith, that it is expressed in love for him and for our neighbour. No one is so poor that he cannot give something. And, in fact, both of these widows from today demonstrate their faith by carrying out an act of charity: one for the Prophet and the other by almsgiving. Thus they attest to the inseparable unity between faith and love, as between love of God and love of one’s neighbour — as the Gospel of last Sunday reminded us. Pope St Leo the Great, whose memory we celebrated yesterday, affirmed this: “On the scales of divine justice the quantity of gifts is not weighed, but the weight of hearts. The widow deposited in the Temple treasury two small coins and by doing so surpassed the gifts of all the rich. No gesture of goodness is meaningless before God, no mercy is left barren” (Sermo de jejunio dec. mens., 90, 3).
Apostolic Elements:
– Kindness has a certain contagious character to it. However, there always needs to be one person that starts the chain.
– After the video, it might be interesting to ask the question: What’s the difference between kindness and charity? (Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any ideas.)
– What keeps us from doing acts of kindness and charity? What do you think when you see someone in need of help? Do any of these sound familiar? It’s probably his or her fault. They could fix it on their own if they really wanted to. I have nothing to give them. Surely the person behind me will help them out; right now I just don’t have time.
– A healthy exercise is to look up in the Scriptures how Jesus responds to these kinds of situations. What is his attitude like? What does he say? What does he do? etc…
Accompanying Bible Verse:
– The scene of the last judgment found in Matthew 25:31-46.
