Customer Reviews

The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time

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I was recently on a pilgrimage to Rome. My pilgrimage director was so atrocious, had I not taken this wonderful book with it's simple guides on charity, patience, and kindness, I would certainly have killed her. The simple pledges, and easily applied steps, helped me not only hold my tongue, but led me to enjoy what could have been an otherwise unbearable experience(...even though the surroundings were spectacular!) If you're serious about improving your daily relations with the people you deal with, you have to read this book!

Read this book's appendix first. It's a series of questions which, answered one after another, takes your temperment temperature and provide Catholics a confession checklist. It also proves the book's back cover tagline, ""You're almost certainly not as kind as you ought to be..."

"The Hidden Power of Kindness" is written firmly from a Catholic mindset to a Catholic audience. Author Lawrence Lovasik, a Catholic priest, condemns birth control and points to criticism of clergy and religious as egregious sins against charity. His somewhat scolding tone (you'll faintly smell fire and brimstone) recalls "old-school" Catholicism, the book first published in 1962. But this book provides any faith-based person timely reasons and reminders to place more Christian kindness and charity into their daily lives.

Building his case from Scripture and quotes and anecdotes from Catholic Saints, Fr. Lovasik shows examples of kindness in word, deed, and thought. He urges readers to reconsider how they treat words spoken in confidence and jest (with especially harsh words on sarcasm), inner thoughts on forgiveness to people who've hurt them, how to act when two people disagree. He cites empathy and punctuality as examples of kind behavior, and silence as "the language of God," and key means to holiness. Throughout, Lovasik's narrative and chosen quotes stress charity and kindness aren't alone virtues without Christ-like purpose.

The book is inspiring, its wisdom timeless (especially its poetic words on how to treat those who are sick and dying) and its tips practical when embedding kinder behavior in everyday life. (It also gives the lie to a now common idea of rude, even cruel behavior being acceptable in the name of "honesty.") "The Hidden Power of Kindness" shows how kind words and actions, born from love and fear of God and desire for God's glory, provide unseen dividends in a society unused to them. Recommended as a practical,near-reference manual for daily human interaction.

This book should not be read as a means to prevent murder. (See review above!) Much more help than this book is needed for that penchant. But if you want a book to clarify for you your shortcomings, and give you practical, simple advice on how to overcome them, this is your book. At first glance the advice seems simplistic and superficial, but the deeper you get into the book, the more you realize you are getting life altering advice. Reading the book is easy...it's a "lite read". Applying the book to your life will become a vocation.

This book is hands down the best spiritual book I have ever read. Just about every page has a nugget of wisdom worth highlighting. This is the type of book you can read again and again, and still get something out of it each time. You can read it cover to cover, or a little each day as a daily meditation.
While there are many spiritual books about various topics such as suffering, prayer, etc., this book is truly unique in its focus on kindness. Reading this book will definitely help you become more Christ-like - certainly Jesus was kind, and this book helps you see others as Jesus sees them.
Father Lovasik is Catholic, but people of any faith would gain tremendous insight from this book. This is a great book that everyone should read.

Lawrence Lovasik has put forth a blueprint for living charity in this busy world. His examples are practical and precise, and encourage the reader to at least try them. He does not propose any "ivory tower" suggestions, but simple and wise guidelines for good living.

"The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time" by Rev. Lawrence Lovasik is an abridged edition of "Kindness" which was originally published in 1962. Its message is as important today as it was then, perhaps even more so.

We live in a rude world. It often seems that people have forgotten how to be kind. "The Hidden Power of Kindness" seeks to remind us. Lovasik begins by offering six simple rules to living kindly, three "don'ts" and three "do's:"

"1) Don't speak unkindly of anyone.
2) Don't speak unkindly to anyone.
3) Don't act unkindly toward anyone.

1) Do speak kindly of someone at least once a day.
2) Do think kindly about someone at least once a day.
3) Do act kindly toward someone at least once a day."

When you do commit an unkind act, ask God for forgiveness, offer an apology to the person, if possible, and say a prayer for the person you offended.

The remainder of "The Hidden Power of Kindness" expands upon those simple rules, providing concrete examples of ways to practice kindness. Jesus told us to love our neighbor. Acting with kindness is a powerful step to living that mandate. Lovasik's book offers a wonderful blueprint for transforming your life and your relationships with other people.

I highly recommend this book if you desire to penetrate your heart in order to discover secret sins hidden there. I found that I could read several pages and think "OK, Ok Good! I am doing well in that area..." But then "Uh Oh, hmmm...that is me and it is not pretty"
I highlighted my problem areas so I could survey it before my next confession.

This is hands down one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Fr. Lovasik really pushes the reader toward greater holiness by encouraging the practice of kindness.

The author begins the book with an observation that struck close to home for me--that because one is spiritually devout does not mean one is kind. Some very religious people, he notes, can also be very unkind. So what exactly does the author mean by kindness? In short: If you raise your voice in anger (even to your spouse or children), you are being unkind. If you insist on having the last word in an argument, you are being unkind. If you talk about others behind their backs, you are being unkind. If you listen to gossip, you are being unkind. If you speak with sarcasm, you are being unkind. If three of you are sitting at a table and two of you engage in a conversation in which the other person is left out, you are being unkind. If you wait for others to ask for help before you offer assistance, you are being unkind. If you don't smile enough, you are being unkind. If you jump to negative conclusions about people you meet, you are being unkind. The list goes on and on.

Fr. Lovasik stresses that it is the "little" things in life that often have profound everlasting consequences. Regardless of how faithfully we might pray or read the Bible or attend Mass, it is our kindness that draws people to God--and our unkindness that repels them. Kindness and unkindness alike are contagious, the author points out. Something as small as a smile can brighten another person's day; a frown or a harsh word can have the opposite effect.

If you don't like to have your toes stepped on, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for someone to help you conform to the image of Christ, this is a must read.

No one can read this book, The Hidden Power of Kindness, without looking at himself and his behavior towards his brother. It illluminates the little, yet destructive things that we do to one another, but on the otherhand, it illluminates the little, yet life healing things we can do to one another! Love lives and acts through kindness.

This is a great book for any age or stage in life. It is challenging and insightful.