Lenten Reflection for March 10th

An International calendar marks February 17th as the World Day of Kindness, where everyone is encouraged to provide little ‘random’ acts of kindness toward others. Such as letting someone else ahead of you in line or offering a sincere compliment to a stranger. There is even a Random Acts of Kindness Foundation set up!

This made me wonder, for us as followers of Christ, are any acts of kindness we show really ‘random’? We are called to show Kindness in Scripture. Christ gives us this command in Luke’s Gospel,  “...rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  (Luke 6:35-36)

Part of our reflection on Right Judgment has shown that discerning the guidance from the Holy Spirit and choosing rightly involves the choice to be kind to one another especially in those times we don’t feel that grace within ourselves. Choosing compassion and extending mercy to those we might feel aren’t really deserving of it at the moment. 

Many times the wrong choices seem like the easier option and we might convince ourselves that ‘just this time it won’t be harmful’. One ‘easy but wrong’ choice will lead to another and if we continue in that direction we risk getting lost.

In another reflection I read by a priest regarding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, he says that the Gift of Right Judgment often goes hand in hand with the Gift of Courage. Emboldened in being open to receiving the Gift of Counsel and to choose to act on it when we feel prompted to show Kindness.  This is to choose Love.

Perhaps when we do a ‘random act of kindness’ for another, we can offer it up as a prayer of gratitude for what the Lord has given to us.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Did you know there is a day known as the World Day of Kindness? It occurs every year on February 17th and during that day we are all encouraged to show extra kindness to others. Maybe doing extra chores, helping a sibling or complimenting a friend. 

We should know though, that we as Christians are taught to be kind to others every day, not just one day a year. Jesus Himself tells us to “...love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  (Luke 6:35-36) This means we are meant to show kindness on days when we don’t feel like it and to people who we might feel don’t deserve our kindness.

These are the times it can be hardest to make the right decision as it can feel easier to just do nothing and not show kindness. God has been kind to us and given us all His Love. To choose to be kind is to choose to show God’s Love to others and this usually means we also need Patience and Courage to do so. The next time we show Kindness to others, let’s try to remember it as a prayer of thanks to God for what He has given to us.

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for March 9th

I once had an acquaintance share some of my artwork with a renowned Canadian artist whose paintings are hung in several government buildings, museums and galleries as well as having been featured on Canada Post stamps. This acquaintance connected the artist and I and I had the opportunity to have a chat over the phone with him. 

I was open and eager to receive any advice and inspiration he could offer regarding life as an artist. One piece of advice he gave that stood out to me was this, ‘Practise every day. Whether it’s drawing or painting. Train the muscles in your hand and arm to draw and paint lines with bold confidence. Draw or paint something every day to practise, make it part of your daily routine.’ I haven’t been able to keep up the commitment of doing this every day but it is advice that I frequently recall in regard to many situations.. 

The Gift of Right Judgment is one we likely open on a daily basis, even if some of the choices each day seem smaller and more trivial, every decision is a way of practising Right Judgment. One of the ways we can see this Gift working in our life is when we are able to grow in the Fruit of Self-Control.

We may be tempted to give in to frustrations, anger, greed, fear or impatience, but when we choose to not give into ‘human nature’ we are growing in Self-Control and practicing Right Judgment. Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:25 NIV Translation) The more we practise, the better we will get at relying on the Lord’s guidance and making the wiser choice. 

You might be familiar with the phrase, ‘grace builds on nature’, this is paraphrased from a quote by Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Gratia non tollit naturam, sed perficit” which means 'Grace does not destroy [human] nature, but perfects it.' Through the grace of the Holy Spirit and the way the Gifts work together, we are given better insight and conviction in our decision making that we wouldn’t be able to achieve on our own.  (Note: the image included on this reflection is not by the artist I mentioned :) )

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Do you play any sports? Have you played in any competitions or team games? Or do you like to draw or paint? Or do you take dance or music lessons and perform at recitals? If so, I imagine it’s very likely that the very first time you tried any of these activities, you weren’t very good at them. But what I know for sure is that as time went on and you continued to practise, you got better at these skills! We also need practise when it comes to being able to make right decisions. We make decisions every day, some might seem to not matter as much but even the small right choices we make can help train us for choosing rightly in bigger, more difficult decisions. 

Saint Paul writes this in the Bible, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:25 NIV Translation). He’s teaching us that what we are ‘training’ for is not an earthly reward which will break or get lost over time. Rather it’s a heavenly reward that we attain when we follow God, praying and asking for His help to better know how to make right and wise decisions.

Let’s pray for God’s help that we can choose to show kindness, patience, love and care to those around us.

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for March 8th

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell popularised the theory of the ‘10,000 hour rule’ which states that for one to become a ‘master’ at any skill they must put in at least 10,000 hours of practice.

One of the psychologists who co-researched the theory and read Gladwell’s book made an observation, saying an aspect not focused on in the books is the importance of how good a student’s teacher is as well. One student might practise for 10,000 hours and become proficient enough, but another might practise less and excel further if their teacher was more helpful than the former student’s teacher.

I’ve never been very proficient in maths, in school it was always a struggle for me to learn maths and do well in tests. I know all my maths teachers did their best to help students, especially those struggling, but I just couldn’t grasp many of the concepts and it was terribly embarrassing and discouraging to keep failing where others were succeeding. There were two teachers though that really were able to help me through with extra lessons during lunch or after school. 

They had a way of explaining concepts differently and encouraged me with practical tips that could help me in the long run such as carrying an extra bit of paper with me to make notes of what confused me so I could remember to ask questions later and to never feel dumb asking for help.

The Gift of Right Judgement or Counsel is a grace given to us from the Holy Spirit, but it’s also one we need to learn to grow in through experience. It is most effective for our maturing process when we can learn from the consequences of our actions. In Proverbs we read, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice.” (Proverbs 12:15) When we are uncertain about a decision we need to make, we may need to humble ourselves and ask for help from the Lord and guidance from the Holy Spirit and not feel foolish for doing so. Let’s pray to grow in the Fruit of Humility as well as the Gift of Counsel when faced with any choice we need to make!

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

When I was in school, I wasn’t the best student when it came to maths. I really liked reading, history, sciences and art, but I could just never seem to easily figure out math problems or do well on tests. I felt embarrassed to not be able to succeed or keep up with other students who did well at maths. Many of my math teachers all tried their best but had many other students who needed their help. I felt that this was just the way it was, I would never be good at maths. That changed however, when two teachers took the time to explain certain math problems to me in different ways, ways I could understand more easily. I started getting better grades in maths after that!

I didn’t need to feel embarrassed about not being good at maths. I needed to be able to ask questions and I needed the right teacher to be able to help me understand.

God is a perfect teacher for us. When we aren’t sure about a decision and feeling confused, we don’t have to be shy or embarrassed, we can always pray and ask for His help. When we speak to God through our prayers, He can help us learn how to make better decisions!

God bless you!