Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails." - 1Cor12:31-13:1
This was the 1st Reading in Mass today. I know most of us have heard it 1,000 times, at least the second part "Love is patient, love is kind..." but somehow it always seems new to me in some way.
I love how frank it is. You can accomplish great things in life but without love YOU FAILED, you can have the faith to move mountains!... but without love? YOU'RE NOTHING. Kinda puts me back in the right perspective. What are my goals in life? And my goals for today? What am I trying to accomplish? Well, my first priority better be to love those around me, and to do everything in love, otherwise I'm wasting my time, it will all turn out to be fruitless. I can keep striving to be the best sister, daughter, friend, teacher, etc... but I'll never get there without love. Love is the key to my success. Love is the key to my happiness.
And how are we to do it? How are we to grow in love? Fr. Mark pointed out something about the second part in his homily today. All the things that are mentioned describing love are actually choices to be made. Love is patient, love is kind - I can choose to be patient and kind. I can choose not to be jealous or pompous, I can keep myself from being inflated or rude, I can choose to seek others' interests instead of my own, I can learn to not be quick-tempered or hold grudges, I can choose to rejoice in the truth, I can choose to endure all things... these are all the actions of love. LOVE IS A CHOICE. It's not just something that happens by accident. We choose to love. And here's a list given to us of what love looks like in action when we choose it. It's not always easy to choose love, we have to put others before ourselves, and that's never fun!
So if we don't want to choose to love we don't have to; we do have a choice... we don't have to choose to love... but, as it says, without love "I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal... I am nothing... I gain nothing"
beautiful.
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