Living radical kindness this Pentecost

2 mins read
Holy Spirit
Stained glass window depicting the Holy Spirit. Shutterstock

Kathryn Jean LopezI recently saw a bumper sticker that read, “Be kinder than necessary.” I found it unexpectedly jarring. I immediately thought of Jesus on the cross. That’s love. That’s something way beyond kindness. And yet, it’s what we owe people. Because Jesus loves us that much. 

Around the same time, I came across a picture of a young couple who got married. They recently had a child outside of marriage, but they did everything to get things right with God. Most importantly, they had the baby, and for that they are heroic. I know that’s not the order we teach or hope for good Catholic kids, but good Catholic kids are human. How do they respond? That makes all the difference. 

This comes up in the context of kindness because of a story my sister recently mentioned to me — a story I will never live down. When I was about 12 years old, I was put in charge of my younger brother and sister for a day. We passed a cemetery, and I instructed my siblings to “pray for their souls.” What did I mean by that? I’d like to think I meant exactly what I’d ask of everyone for myself when I die. Regardless, that’s not what the two of them took from it, and so I will never live it down. 

We often are so intent on what we mean or want that we ignore how other people perceive it. This, too, is something much more radical than mere kindness. How many young people who have made a mistake are afraid of being judged? How many people assume Catholics are judging them? This is the upside of attempts to make sure all feel welcome in the Church. 

But the Holy Spirit is the comforter, and we have to truly submit to the Holy Spirit to find that comfort and courage only he can give us. The Holy Spirit can guide us in the kind of radical love that is an embrace of people, seeing them as made in the image and likeness of God beyond their sins. We want to love them into the arms of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and any other sacraments, like marriage, God has in store for them. 

We often talk about hating the sin, loving the sinner. Maybe these days, with so many strikes against people living virtue, we need to audaciously lead with loving the sinner. (Take the struggle of young people who are drowning in a sea of impurity — children who have access to pornography before they even realize what it is.) And maybe we need to enter into every conversation or teaching or any human encounter with making clear that we are sinners. We are not pointing fingers. 

One of the most eye-opening experiences of my life was going to a Courage conference. Courage is the ministry for men and women with same-sex attraction who want to live according to the teaching of the Catholic Church. The very first thing I attended was a Holy Hour, and I was moved to tears by the humility of the postures of prayer. And I realized that I had previously thought of “them” — “those people with their struggle.” 

We all have struggles. We all sin. Let us approach Divine Mercy together. Do we ever unintentionally make people feel like they are in a separate category in their desire to live the Christian life? May it never be so again. We are in this together — sinners in need of our savior, Jesus Christ! Thanks be to God we have him and are not alone. 

This Pentecost season, we had better be begging to truly receive anew the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because the Acts of the Apostles are calling to us to live that life together. We must witness to one another and encourage one another and welcome one another with the kind of pure love that Jesus showed us on the cross. May his blood and water renew us. May we be beacons of light and not judgement. 

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and editor-at-large of National Review.

Kathryn Jean Lopez

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and editor-at-large of National Review.