Are random acts of kindness non-Christian?

[catholic1seeks]

Because every good work – a work of love/charity – is due first to God’s grace, doesn’t that popular phrase, “do a random act of kindess” contradict God’s bestowal of actual grace? We cannot love – commit a good work – without God’s grace, so this means we can never do good without God’s help (his grace). It seems to me that noo one can ever do a “random” act of kindness. If I am wrong please explain. Lately I’ve been struggling miserably on the topic of grace.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

It sounds to me like you may be scrupling too much. “Random acts of kindness” is not a theological proposition but a colloquial catch-phrase that means that a person spontaneously decides to do something nice as a surprise for a stranger to brighten his day (e.g., paying the toll for three cars behind you; anonymously picking up the check for a stranger in a restaurant; leaving change for a phone call at a public phone). To the extent that such acts garner merit, the initiative is God’s, but that does not mean that the human will cannot choose to act spontaneously in reaction to the promptings of grace.