Conversation Circles

Themes drawn from our Christian and Mercy traditions accompanied by thoughts to consider, questions for reflection, further resources and prayer opportunities.

Kindness - a Word of Mercy

By By Mary Wickham rsm

Kindness
Kindness

Kindness - a Word of Mercy

Sometimes it is useful to approach a word by its opposite. Unkindness has powerful negative connotations. It can help us appreciate the true nobility and richness of the word kindness. The word kindness probably suffers a little these days from seeming to be soppy, soft, middle of the range.

In English, the collective generic term for a group of birds is a flock. In addition, the English language has a rich history of collective names for specific types of birds, some of which quite fascinatingly evoke aspects of the birds’ appearance or behaviours. For example, we find a flamboyance of flamingos, a blush of robins, a murmuration of starlings, a mob of emus, a charm of hummingbirds, an exultation of larks, a murder of crows, and an unkindness of ravens.

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