A Love that
Never Fails
“[Love] bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.” – St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.
When I looked at this Sunday’s
Scripture readings a few days ago, I almost skipped right by the second reading
from First Corinthians. I have heard it
so many times – at Masses, at weddings – I guess I just figured I didn’t need
to spend much time with it this week.
` But that can be a real danger with
Scripture. It’s not a mystery novel,
where if we’ve read it before and already know what’s going to happen, we can
skip certain parts. It’s often when we
know a piece of Scripture particularly well that we need to spend more time
with it because it’s then that we stop listening as closely to what God may be
trying to tell us through it right now.
We’ve all heard this week’s second
reading numerous times, but as people of God for whom real Christian love
should define us, it is always a good checklist to measure ourselves by. I started this post with just a few lines
from the reading because those are the ones that really jumped out at me when I
slowed down and paid attention. Read
them slowly.
Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails.
How many families are suffering because
the spirit of the world has seemed to choke off the Spirit of God? How many parents spend countless hours on
their knees and in tears because of children who have walked away from the Faith
which those parents so lovingly instilled in them? How many of us have spouses, siblings, aunts,
uncles, parents, cousins, friends who we weary of praying for and witnessing to
because they just don’t seem to get it?
Love believes all things. Love hopes all things.
How many St. Monicas soak their
pillows with their tears over the wayward lives of children who have embraced
our pagan culture with all its sinfulness?
How many children wish their parents would only seek their hearts with
the passion they seek the treasures of the world? How many grandparents ache over grandchildren
they were never able to hold because Planned Parenthood got hold of their
mothers first?
Love bears all things. Love endures all things.
We live in a culture that is shedding
the last vestiges of its Christian heritage.
And it is in a furious battle to claim the souls of us and our loved
ones.
We who know and love the Truth and the
God of Truth want desperately for our family, friends and neighbors to be
blessed like we have been blessed. And we
all want to spend eternity in perfect happiness with those we have loved so
much.
And yet we all know people that we
love who have embraced the lies of our age and who don’t want to hear about God
or holiness or His Church or even Heaven.
Every one of us knows that pain.
It is the pain of love that only wants what is good for the beloved. So we pray and we try to set good
example. We invite and we teach and we
fast. And so often nothing seems to
happen.
Depression can take hold of us. Some people wash their hands of the
situation; others give up hope and despair.
But we are people of love. And what we seek we know to be the will of
God – the holiness and salvation of those we love. St. Paul reminds us that to be authentic, our
love must never despair and must never grow tired. We must focus on our own holiness and continuing
to love, trusting, as St. Ambrose told St. Monica, “The son of so many tears
will not be lost.” God remains God and
we are called to trust Him. Love never
fails.
Love bears all things, it believes all
things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Love never fails…Faith, hope, love remain,
these three; but the greatest of these is love.
