Have you ever heard of the 14 Acts of Mercy? I'm not surprised if you haven't as I also wasn't aware of the term until 2023. My long time readers know I haven't written anything about that in detail. Why? Simply because I don't do more of one set as opposed to the other.

Can't write much about something I don't really do or practice you know. But since I just connected two and two together, here we are!

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Kindness is What?

Recently I've finally been seeing better content on the Hive blockchain. Previously there was a Grateful Vibes community but it's already inactive. Looks like last year was a start of a new wave of goodness around here. First was the FreeCompliments community and now there's a different community advocating kindness. Awesome, right?

In one of those kindness posts I just thought of something through my recently renewed Christian lens. Reading several ways on how to be kind to others made me realize each one of those leads to certain acts of mercy! Say what? I'll get to that later below. (I've been struggling on how to do some of those more often.)

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Yes, everybody needs kindness from each other. Not only in real life but online too. Outside of Facebook and other mainstream social media sites, Hive can be a toxic place too. Either we have NSFW posts or flag/vote wars, hate posts, etc.

So many hate can be found in social media and this write-to-earn-crypto site is no different. Even when most were still on Steemit, it's the same thing. We all have pains and hurts that we spread to other people deliberately or not.

In 2018 I posted something on Steemit on Why The Golden Rule Sucks. It's one of the older articles I wrote years earlier that I decided to rewrite and post there. More than a week later, I wrote What “Turning The Other Cheek” Means: You Are The Better Person Not exactly topics about kindness because I've never really been a fan of it. So here we are, am finally writing something about it.

When you've been abused for being kind you'd start avoiding doing nice things for others. As a kid I used to always be taken advantage of even by strangers because I was a good child. When I got older I decided I wouldn't be that kind of "loser" anymore. No more miss nice girl. Hah! 😏 Sadly now I realize it made me lose out on opportunities to pile up treasures in heaven. Boohoo to the young me instead. 🤦‍♀️

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There's a What Now? 14 Acts of Mercy?

Yes folks, I wasn't quite a very good Christian since that moment. I'm a cradle Catholic but like everyone else, I was a lukewarm one. Just someone who went with the flow and didn't care much about religion, an occasional Catholic. This is why I never really knew about the acts of mercy until last year.

Apparently there are a total of fourteen Works of Mercy: 7 Corporal Works and 7 Spiritual Works. I know more of the latter and have been doing some of that for years without having any idea I was doing 'em. Yes, not all 7, just some of them. As for the former... well I realized last year that's what I need to work on the most.

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Why do we need to do these? Because we're human beings and not everyone has someone to care for them. If you put it in a religious perspective you'll hear the usual: "Because Jesus told us to do it." Yeah that's one way of looking at it, especially when we want to oblige other people to do such things. That would eventually fail to take fruit in the individual because obligations are not from your own compulsion.

When we're obliged to do something, we feel a burden, a terrible responsibility. It's something we have to force ourselves to do, like a job we don't like. When we do it out of caring for others and true concern for people's welfare that's when everything is light and easy.

Actually I admire those people doing many of the seven corporal works like they're easy peasy. For me it's not something I can just do anytime. Even just thinking about doing all of them is hard for me. Blame it on that wrong decision made by my young self. 🙃

Now as an adult, I know that even if it's hard it doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. This is why my Christian brain suddenly connected what I read to what I can finally do.

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Do Kindness Activities First in Order to Do Corporal Works of Mercy Later!

For anyone who's also having a hard time taking action this is the best advice I could think of! As mentioned in my How to be an Ultimate Human Being guide, we need to take baby steps. In order to reach a big goal we need to take it step by step or break it down so we can do it little by little. And being kind to others is one of those things we need to start doing so we can do the corporal acts of mercy!

It's important not to forget doing good to others because we will be held accountable at the end of our lives. ^{(Matthew 25:40-45)} God prefers it when we work towards our sanctification rather than when we just say or write things. That's one of the things I learned from the Bible, the writings of saints and/or the many online Catholic content I've consumed. Now that takes the saying, "Action speaks louder than words," to a whole new level!

After all being kind shows care and concern for others which can also be equivalent to love. That's something we all need more of, right? It's a win-win for everyone when we make an effort to be kinder to each another. What do you think?

XOXO,
@artgirl

_{Spam or irrelevant comments will be downvoted if not revised upon warning.}

Written by @artgirl for Hive
© Art x Stephanie Rue / Lucy Stephanie

_{@artgirl is a freelance writer/blogger/artist, online seller, real estate agent and Manulife financial adviser.}

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