Every Day Acts of Kindness

POMPTON LAKES  IN POMPTON LAKES
These committed St. Mary’s parishioners have been receiving daily ideas for daily acts of service from St. Mary’s as suggested by 40 Acts — a United Kingdom-based Lenten program. It seeks to unite more than 100,000 people across the globe in the goal completing the challenge of performing good deeds for each of the 40 days of Lent. Local participants read that day’s suggestions on St. Mary’s website, stmary’s-pompton.org, or the parish’s FaceBook page or register on FaceBook to receive a daily email, said Dorothy Limey, co-director of St. Mary’s music ministry with her husband, Craig, who has been coordinating the Franciscan-run parish’s participation in 40 Acts.

“40 Acts has gotten people to think about the many different things that they can do everyday as individuals, entire families, schools or groups to make someone’s day a little easier or make them smile. It has made our parishioners understand that service takes on different forms. They learn that something as simple as being on time can be an act of kindness because they are respecting other people’s time,” said Limey, who discovered 40 Acts on the Internet months ago, while searching for a Lenten program for St. Mary’s.

Each morning, St. Mary’s parishioners can look on the parish website or FaceBook page or read the daily email for three service suggestions, each one more challenging than the next. The most basic suggestion for one of the days, which focuses on prayer, challenges parishioners to create a space for prayer, while the two more advanced suggestions urge them to pray while walking or create a prayer group. Accompanying these suggestions are short reflections for them to consider, Limey said.

Starting on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, 40 Acts hones in on smaller acts of kindness — beneficial for those faithful, who might not be able to perform good deeds that require more time or effort, such as serving meals at a local soup kitchen. Some of these simpler acts might include taking cookies to a neighbor, praying to God that they are available to help people and, for children, offering to play with someone new, Limey said.

“My husband and children [ages 9, 13 and 15] have been doing 40 acts. The kids look forward to the suggestions and ask me about them each morning,” said Limey, who noted that parents, teachers or parish ministers are able to modify the suggestions for younger people.

On one day, 40 Acts urged participants to speak kindly of other people. The most basic suggestion prompted them to talk about people “behind their backs,” posting complements about them on the social networking sites Twitter or Instagram or casually mentioning them in conversation. The more advanced recommendations urged people to recommend someone for a position in their parish, brag about their achievements or search for good characteristic of someone they find difficult.

Seven years ago, the UK-based charity Stewardship created 40 Acts by asking simple, yet profound, questions: “What if Lent could be about more than just giving stuff up?” and “What if it could be a time of radical generosity as well as spiritual discipline?” Since then, more than 100,000 people — including non-Christians — have joined the movement to make a positive impact on their communities “with generosity — during Lent and beyond,” according to Stewardship’s website, stewardship.org.uk, which offers further service suggestions and spiritual resources for participants.

“We have a vision for the world to encounter Jesus through the generosity of his Church. To accomplish this, we make it easy for Christians to give to the causes they care about. We challenge and inspire Christians to give generously and sacrificially, and we strengthen Christian causes too, providing services to make sure they handle their resources with excellence,” according to Stewardship’s web site.

40 Acts fits with the many other programs and initiatives at St. Mary’s, during the liturgical seasons of Lent, when the Passaic County parish focuses on prompting its faithful to get more involved in service to others. The message has been emphasized in homilies and music at Masses and in such programs as adult formation, a multi-part presentation about care of the Earth, projects in the parish school and in videos on St. Mary’s website that offer daily reflections by parishioners, said Franciscan Father Frank Sevola, St. Mary’s pastor.

“Parishioners have been loving 40 Acts. St. Mary’s has been trying to push people from seeing Lent as giving up something to a service mentality. This has been a simple way to do that and has been an easy thing for them to do,” Father Sevola said.