“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 30th Lk 4: 21-30 Alleluia Verse: “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives.”
In today’s reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, we learn the true meaning of “glad tidings to the poor” and “liberty to captives”. We will begin with Paul’s introduction that leads us to Fr. Ed’s explanation of the essence of Paul’s message.
1 Cor 13: 1-3: “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 won, and If I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
SAINT PAUL SHOWS US WHAT LOVE IS AND WHAT LOVE IS NOT! By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
One of the greatest spiritual masterpieces ever penned on the topic of love is from Saint Paul in his thirteenth chapter to the Corinthians. At weddings, this is often one of the favorite readings in the context of the Nuptial Mass. If the couple, as well as all of us, would seriously read, meditate, and strive to understand the importance and meaning of these few verses, the understanding that we have of Love would be radically transformed. And of course, as a consequence, the way we would strive to live out this most demanding virtue would change.
We would like to extract four short verses from I Corinthians 13—verses 4-7 and expound upon and explain these few verses related to love.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it 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. Love does not rejoice over wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Saint Paul, obviously led by the Holy Spirit, was truly inspired to highlight characteristics of charity or supernatural love and its concrete applications. In a word, love/charity is not a mere ephemeral sentiment, or passing emotion, or transitory, romantic glance or smile. Quite the contrary: supernatural love, which in theological language is termed charity, is very demanding. According to the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, it is indeed the greatest of all virtues!
This being said, we would like to list what love is and what love is not according to Saint Paul, and give a brief explanation of these words with the hope that we all would have the audacious courage and trust in God’s grace to put this sublime virtue into practice daily!
1. LOVE IS PATIENT
Are you patient? Examine your life, specifically in three basic areas related to patience.
Are you patient with God and the way He deals with you in your life? Or do you question and rebel against God’s providential designs? Next, are you patient with others, especially those with whom you associate on a daily basis? Or is your attitude and philosophy, “My way or the Highway!” Finally, are you patient with yourself? By this is meant, when you fail, do you give in to discouragement or rise from your fall and begin again? Examine yourself on patience in these three areas!
2. LOVE IS KIND
If you really do not understand the whole concept of being kind or kindness, we offer you the antithesis, the opposing vice, and that would be the demeanor of a mean or bad-tempered person. Such a person is often bitter, angry, sharp, sarcastic, calculating, touchy.
Whereas the kind person exudes joy, mercy, compassion, a winning smile. A kind person is tender, loving, and supportive. A kind person does not judge, criticize, and condemn but quickly overlooks the faults and limitations of their brothers and sisters.
3. LOVE IS NOT JEALOUS
Jealous persons tend to compare themselves with others, and as a result, they are never at peace with themselves. Jealousy and envy are related. Jealousy can be explained as the person who feels bad when somebody else has something they do not have.
Envy is worse! The envious person rejoices when something bad happens to the person who has something that they don’t have! The opposite of jealousy and envy would be fraternal charity—to will the good of the other. Saint Paul expresses this perfectly: “To rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” (Rom 12:15)
Another manifestation of the opposing virtue would be that of admiration. You do not downplay the good fortune of your neighbor, rather you admire and compliment them.
4. LOVE IS NOT POMPOUS, NOT INFLATED
The words pompous and inflated can be united. Such a person is proud, conceited, a braggart, self-seeking, self-aggrandizing, ostentatious, as well as demeaning and disparaging towards others. Such a person is egocentric; they want to be the focal point of attention. They want at all times and places to be, so to speak, the life of the party. Possibly the best image from the animal world would be that of the peacock—always ready and willing to show off their plumage, their multi-color splendor for all to see!
The contrary is a person who is soft-spoken, unassuming, hidden, modest, never over bearing, who seeks the honor of others rather than their own.
5. LOVE IS NOT RUDE
We all have met rude people and possibly given in to being rude ourselves. What are the qualities of a rude person? They are pushy, can never wait, cut in lines, elbow their way to the first place, and perpetually complain. A rude person is uncouth, vulgar and coarse in speech, and bloated in self-importance. If we are honest, maybe we have even given into this attitude of being a rude dude to the detriment of our family and work environment.
The exact opposite is true of a gentleman or lady. Such a person is courteous, gentle, refined, soft-spoken, polished, and well-mannered at home and everywhere else.
6. LOVE IS NOT QUICK-TEMPERED
By quick-tempered is meant that such a person has a very short fuse. They explode at the drop of a hat. Anything—whether it be a person, place, thing, or circumstance—that does not flow and harmonize with their particular needs, wants and desires can cause them to go into at least a minor rage. The quick-tempered person blurts out whatever comes to their mind without a moment of reflection, and can consequently cause irreparable damage to family, relatives, friends, and countless other people. This impulsive, impetuous, explosive, knee-jerk reaction to all that is not according to their tastes is like living or associating with someone who has firecrackers in their pocket and matches ready at hand!
The opposite is a person capable of suffering tension, disappointments, set-backs, bad language and insults, even physical suffering in silence, uniting themself to Jesus in His Passion and sufferings.
7. LOVE DOES NOT BROOD OVER INJURIES
The person who broods over injuries has not learned how to forgive; they have not understood the importance of the greatest virtue in the Heart of Jesus—that of mercy.
The opposite of brooding over injuries is forgiving those who offend us right away and from the heart. It is putting into practice the prayer of Jesus in the Our Father: in the petition “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus is the most sublime example, especially as He hangs on the cross and from the depths of His loving and Sacred Heart cries out: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34)
8. LOVE DOES NOT REJOICE OVER WRONGDOING, BUT REJOICES IN THE TRUTH
Love and truth must work and collaborate together. A person motivated by true love will never call sin, virtue—nor right, wrong. Impossible!
Love is honest; love is sincere; love is transparent and not murky. Love will strive to correct wrongdoing. This is called the virtue of fraternal correction. Upon seeing someone in sin or in the wrong, a person motivated by love will have the courage, honesty, and zeal to try to bring the wandering sheep back to the fold, back to the flock, back to the arms of Jesus who is the Good Shepherd even of the wandering sheep.
9. LOVE BEARS ALL THINGS, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, HOPES ALL THINGS
Bearing all things, we are called to contemplate Jesus in His Passion as He carries the cross—a cross weighed down by the weight of all the sins of all of humanity, from Adam and Eve until the last person in the world, and that includes our own personal sins. If the person who is loaded down with trials, tribulations, afflictions, and contradictions of all kinds, lifts up their eyes to Jesus carrying the cross loaded down with the sins of the whole world, their strength will be renewed. Praying and meditating over Jesus’ patient endurance on the cross is a powerful motivation to imitate the Lord and His infinite love.
Believing all things, we call to mind the modern classic of the Secretary of Divine Mercy, Saint Faustina, in her Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. One of the hallmarks of this classic is that of believing Jesus in all of His words and promises.
Hoping all things is trusting in Jesus in all times and places, summarized in these five simple but most profound words: JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!
10. LOVE ENDURES ALL THINGS
One of the key virtues of the followers of the Lord Jesus is that of enduring all things; another way of expressing this is the virtue of perseverance. Jesus Himself stated: “He who perseveres until the end will be saved.” (Mt 24:13)
Using an image from sports, Saint Paul states that not all of the runners in the stadium, in the marathon, will win the race, but only one. We are called to be that one in the Heart of Jesus. Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori insisted upon the importance of enduring until the end with the concept of final perseverance.
As we conclude, let us prayerfully meditate upon the words of Saint Alphonsus with regard to final perseverance: “The grace of all graces to persevere in the state of grace.” Let us beg the Blessed Virgin Mary for this most exalted of all graces. Let us beg she who is the full of grace, to live in grace, grow in grace, persevere in grace, and die in the state of grace, so as to attain our greatest reward—Heaven for all eternity!
