Homily for Ordinary Time 6 - February 14, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 6

February 14, 2021

On Kindness

 

            The year was 312, and Pachomius was miserable. He had been drafted into the Roman army against his will, and assigned to patrol in the Egyptian city of Thebes. This was not at all what he wanted to be doing with his life!

            Much to his surprise, though, when he and his legion arrived in Thebes, they were met with a contingent of people offering him free food, clothing, kind words, and smiles. Grateful yet intrigued, he accepted the gifts. Throughout his time in that city, he would frequently encounter these mysterious people who would smile at him, engage him in conversation, and provide food and water. Upon inquiry, he discovered that these people belonged to a foreign religion: Christianity. He was so impressed with their kindness that he promised himself that when he got out of the army, he would investigate this religion.

            A couple years later his tour of duty was up, and he became a Christian, then a hermit, and then a founder of several monasteries, which had up to 7,000 monks at one time. He is now known as St. Pachomius, who was converted due to the kindness of Christians.

            What attracted people to Jesus? We see in the Gospel that huge crowds are flocking to Him in these deserted places. Yes, in part it was because He could perform incredible miracles, but those miracles were performed because Jesus first was “moved with compassion”. It was His compassion and kindness that prompted the miracles – virtues that were equally as rare back then as they are today!

            Even St. Paul speaks of kindness in our second reading – he urges all to live in peace, without unnecessarily offending anyone, so that the Gospel may not be blamed.

            When we speak of the virtue of kindness, however, I want to make a distinction between being kind and being nice. Being nice means never being controversial, never taking a stand. But kindness is more than that – it means to treat people with the dignity they deserve as children of God. Niceness is not a virtue – it is actually a weakness because it means we don’t want to be bothered with conflict (or we’re afraid of “rocking the boat”). Kindness is a virtue, and it is one that requires great strength and courage.

            Why does kindness require strength and courage? Because it means we look beyond a person’s external attributes to see the Image of God contained within. Jesus didn’t see a leper – He saw a beloved soul that He was going to die for. He looked beyond the disfiguring, disgusting disease and instead saw a person. This takes strength and courage and self-denial, because it’s much easier to treat someone based upon surface-level attributes.

            Can we have that same kindness of Christ? It requires us to look beyond the annoying habits, the strange mannerisms, the accent, the background, the sinful behavior, the incorrect political views, the immigration status, the mean attitude – and see the person whom Christ died for. But to be like Christ, we must have the kindness of Christ – and our Christian goal is to be “imitators of Christ” as St. Paul tells us.

            So my challenge to you is this: this week, be kind. See the person behind the external appearance, and treat them like the Image of God that they carry within them. Jesus’ kindness healed the leper – our kindness can help people live in the dignity they deserve as children of God!