Reflection for Wednesday, September 16, 1998: 24th week in Ordinary Time.

Abstract

It is one of those passages that is on the "most favored" lists of many people. It is certainly one of my favorite New Testament readings. The passage is familiar because it is used so frequently at weddings. The passage describes love, a topic that continues to intrigue philosophers, and all sorts of other thinkers and writers. It is the subject of novels, short stories, poetry.||Paul is clear and concise in what he says about love. He doesn't waste lots of words in describing love from a very practical perspective. His remarks highlight the truths about love and live. Love is. . . and then Paul adds the adjectives and they pile upon one another and build to a great crescendo. Love is . . . patient, kind, not jealous, without airs, not snobbish, not self-seeking, not prone to anger, and so on.|The qualities of love that Paul enunciates here come right out of a life lived in union and communion with Christ. Life lived in Christ, the one who lived loved throughout his life but most especially in his death and resurrection.|Paul's description of love rings so true to life. It is no wonder that young men and women use it as a challenge for the life and the love they witness to in their marriage liturgies. Paul's words apply most especially for married couples. But they Paul apply to each of us as we seek to live our lives in imitation of Christ.|Let it be our prayer today that we incorporate into our daily lives that patience, that openness to life, that trust, that lack of self-seeking, and the other qualities Paul speaks about in his letter. Let us learn love from Christ and let love suffuse our daily lives.|Reflection Home