Date: Wednesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Brothers and sisters:
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. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three;but the greatest of these is love.
Breaking the text open – background and summary:
The first reading for today is the well-known text from Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians in which he reminds us of the primacy of love in our journey of faith. Love is both the reason and the way of creation. And we as created children of the all-loving LORD are created from love, through love, and in love for love. Our lives are all about our relationships with our LORD and with one another. Faith and hope are part of our journey, but without love, there would be no journey.
Meditating on the text with personal questions:
Is my motivation in life love? Do I allow it to inform me, to conform me, to transform me?
Praying:
LORD, You are the source of all being. Your love, so real and so powerful that it materializes in creation. Father, Son, and Spirit, love personified. As I look to You and call upon You for help in my life’s journey, I see my creator, my redeemer, my sanctifier. I know in You loving kindness and mercy. Your presence stirs my heart and illuminates my mind. I seek ways to give You glory, to serve You, to honor You, and within me my being calls me give to You what You give to me, love. And I do, LORD, I give you my mind, my heart, my soul, my life to You in love. I love You with all my being. Help me, LORD, to witness always and everywhere to You and your love for me and for all my sisters and brothers. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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