Saturday, March 20
Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (687)
1 Corinthians 13
This passage, one full of beautiful metaphors and parallelism, is one we all know as the "love" passage and have heard and read it hundreds of times. It's probably one of our favorite readings because these words are a good rule to live by, a rule that transcends time. However, this passage, so popular at weddings, is not about emotion or romance; rather it teaches us about "true" love and is applicable to the relationship between man and woman, or the relationship between family members, or between friends. The passage even speaks to our relationship with our enemies. To understand love, we need to look at Christ's example. His dying on the cross for us was the ultimate love. Thus love means the self sacrifice of oneself, the denying of one's own desires, for the good of someone else, even for our enemies. This is the template that we must follow, which starts with a conscious decision, an act of will in which we determine in our minds that this is what we'll do, accompanied by an asking of God's grace to help us accomplish what seems impossible. So what is love? -
It is patient with the imperfect.
It actively does good.
It is not possessive. It does not compete. It lets others be first.
It is humble, has good manners, is courteous.
It is not selfish.
It is not irritable or rough. It is graceful under pressure
It keeps no account of wrongs. It forgets them.
It is silent about the shortcomings of others.
It sings of the goodness of others.
It helps all people.
It believes the best of others.
It never gives up, but reaffirms constancy of purpose.
It remains loyal to the end.
It always wins, because it has more value than anything in life.
Finally, we know that we are not alone, as we strive to love, for we have God's grace, as well as His example. By giving ourselves up to Him, we can "love."
Elizabeth and Ian Bremner