A gospel without Kindness is a twisted sort of thing. But do not confuse niceness with kindness. Kindness is a kind of generosity toward another. Niceness can be like a diplomatic politeness but in the end can be done for one’s own sake to avoid conflict, to enable problems, to flatter, to virtue-signal. Kindness approaches difficult subjects with solidarity, compassion, and not out of annoyance and resentment. “Love is kind” is what St. Paul teaches, amongst other things.
Consider that the demeanor we display will convey as much truth if not more than the content of what we say. So if we proclaim Christ, but without kindness, we convey a contradiction. Many wish to dismiss the Christian faith, and exploit bad-witnesses to feed this end. Others are wounded by these bad witnesses and cannot distinguish between the essence of the faith and its practiced demeanor. As Christians we are called to love with a greater capacity than those who are without faith. Our baptism gives us the supernatural, infused, grace to love like Christ.
If you want to evangelize, begin with your own internal disposition, and unite that to the content of the Kerygma. Feed the poor, volunteer, listen to your neighbor, offer support. Do not be so tied-up in what is not going well in your own life that you fail to see what is falling apart in your friends and enemies.
“It is nevertheless commendable at times that the object of a favor should remain in ignorance of it, both in order to avoid vainglory, as when Blessed Nicolas threw gold into a house secretly, wishing to avoid popularity: and because the kindness is all the greater through the benefactor wishing not to shame the person on whom he is conferring the favor.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
A person is more likely to intuit genuineness through kindness rather than niceness, sweetness rather than bitterness. If our disposition opens a person, then our proclamation isn’t in vain. In as much as a river has both water and banks, so our behavior as Christians must both have spirit and truth.
