Random Acts of Kindness Rock

Intentionality matters. My first semester at Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, did not go well academically. I was running cross country, involved in a school play (“Guys and Dolls”), and simply having too much fun.

Knowing that the report card would arrive in the mail on Tuesday, I went out to the local flower shop and bought my mom a dozen carnations on Monday (and put them in the freezer to preserve them for the next day … I certainly did not know much about flowers!).

When my mom came home that Tuesday after work (she was a second grade teacher), I handed her the frost bitten flowers and shortly afterward, she discovered the mediocre report card.

I would like to think that the intention behind the flowers was a random act of kindness to show well-deserved appreciation for my mom’s countless favors and sacrifices.

But no, it was done to lessen the blow.

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Years later, as a senior in high school, I came home from a Friday night out with my buddies and noticed an unusually dirty kitchen resulting from my parent’s dinner party with their friends. My first thought was to go to bed and let my parents worry about the mess in the morning, but then the Holy Spirit kicked in and insisted that I get it done.

So, 15 wine glasses, a pile of pots and pans, and other items of fine china were carefully washed (and miraculously not broken), and I went to bed with a clean conscience. My mom still remembers that night with great appreciation, and honestly, I wish there were more examples like this one.

Cheshire, Connecticut, September 1987. This Bible pictured above was on the small desk outside of my “cell” along with the golden tabs meant to separate the different books of the Bible. I was planning on carefully placing these tabs during my 8-hour flight to Spain the next day. But after I had gone to bed, a seminarian took my Bible and meticulously placed all of these tabs on the Bible and left it back on my desk before 5:30 a.m., without a note or any indication of who had done it.

This Bible still has those tabs intact nearly 30 years later, and it took me 10 years to finally discover the name of the seminarian who performed this selfless act of charity.

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Potomac, Maryland, October, 2002. The pile of laundry was mounting and, given the busy schedule of all the priests in my community, nobody was able to make a dent. I was out to dinner that Saturday evening and when I returned, I noticed the laundry room light was on. It was a little past 10 p.m., and one of our priests, Fr. James, was systematically folding and separating all the clothes.

Fr. James was preaching a retreat that weekend, so he was coming off a full day of intense ministry. I am sure that his desire would have been to go immediately to bed, to be well rested for another full Sunday of Mass, confessions, talks, and spiritual counseling.

But he went the extra mile, never mentioned it to anyone, and did it with great perfection and love.

People may not always see what we are “really up to.” But Jesus sees everything and he blesses those actions that are done out of love for him and for his greater glory.

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC, is a Catholic priest who is the New York chaplain of the Lumen Institute, an association of business and cultural leaders.