Kindness is a spark that reflects God's Light while hate engulfs us in an actual darkness.

When we are kind, joy begins to creep into our being, and then to pervade it. Our bodies and emotions are both healthier. It is as important as any devotion -- and should be the fruit of devotion.

Our cells react to kindness and we are often healed of sickness.

Kindness is wishing another well, and so it's a blessing that returns like a boomerang. Blessings also bless the ones who sent them. As one writer noted, kindness drives gloom and darkness from our souls and replaces it with hope. It beautifies us. We actually look better. It glorifies, it ennobles, it purifies.

Ennoble is to increase dignity. It builds up. It summons grace where discouragement resists those gifts that God has in store for us.

Miracles are worked by angels, and are not angels this way?

When we are kind, we summon them. Michael for protection. Gabriel for the Spirit of Truth. Raphael for the healing of sickness. Our Guardian for everything in daily trials.

When we are kind, we are putting in an order to Heaven for assistance. The angels immediately react to it -- and if we need them, thousands are at our command. Sharpness and bitterness disappear. So does sarcasm. "Kindness adds sweetness to everything," notes an author named Lawrence G. Lovasik. "It makes life’s capabilities blossom and fills them with fragrance."

Indeed, those who are spiritually gifted and exhibit great kindness often are accompanied by the mysterious aroma of sanctity -- an odor that is like a combination of lilies and roses which sweetens spiritually.

We have witnessed this phenomenon a number of times, especially around the famous Catholic stigmatic named Maria Esperanza-- whose very family was an emblem of patience, kindness, and love. To be in their presence was to feel inexplicable joy for hours after.

Joy comes from kindness and is the emotion of the miraculous.

How do we know that? Well, look at what a miracle does; first and foremost, it brings joy. It lifts our spirits. It’s a taste of Heaven.

Kindness opens a portal into the hereafter and through that portal come wonders. God loves to surprise those who are kind, and often He does this through angels.

Angels watch our every move and celebrate when we are devout and receive the Eucharist and perform an act of kindness.

If we need them, they speed on the highway that our love has paved.

One kind word, one kind smile, one gesture, is often enough to serve as a catalyst. We don't see it, but the world changes around us.

We are meant to pat each other on the back and offer happiness.

When we do, happiness is returned-- and encompasses us with a sort of heavenly energy.

That power may then manifest as something we really need, perhaps a healing, perhaps a change in attitude. And we can pass it on; we can transmit it. We are called to emulate angels. They are messengers of God's love and we are called to do the same.

Patience. Forbearance. Here is the stuff of angels. Think of all the times your guardian has stood by you despite your conduct. The Book of Proverbs tells us that "a patient man is better than a warrior, and he who rules his temper, than he who takes a city."

Many who have kindness and faith have beaten "unbeatable" illness. With the eyes of faith we become victors and fulfill who we really are. There is no problem without a solution. There is no horror without an exit.

That's quite a promise, but no matter where you are, no matter how life has been treating you, no matter your circumstances, there is always the opportunity to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. There are always the helpers from Heaven.

Call on the angels! Especially this day. Call them with kindness! Send them before you in every situation and watch your circumstances improve and problems resolve in ways you could not have imagined.

[And: Angels as 'mysterious strangers', Readers recall encounters, and Guardian angels: seek them in times of stress and danger]

9/29/06