"I shall show you a more excellent way"
I Cor 12:31 - 13: 13
Luke 4: 21 - 30
You may be old enough to remember the wildly popular Oscar
nominee movie of the early 1970’s entitled: “Love Story.” Whether you are or
not that movie starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neil reflected all the emotion
both in joy and sadness that love between two people can bring. It was basically a contemporary Romeo and
Juliet story. Two people from very different backgrounds meet and fall in love,
then tragedy hits in the death of one. Yet, it is best remembered for the popular
slogan from the film: “Love means never
having to say you’re sorry.”
Really? What does that mean? Are apologies unnecessary in a
relationship? Sounds bit presumptuous
doesn’t it. I presume that you love me
so much that no matter how I hurt you, you will understand and presume my
apology although you never hear it.
Hmmmm. Such Hollywood presentation on the meaning of true love is
questionable although the line may sound catchy. When one stops to think about its implications
it bears reflection.
This Sunday’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians is certainly one of the most beautiful. It is commonly chosen for weddings and it has
a good place there. It is a near poetic
reflection on the qualities of love and specifically Paul sees these qualities
as a greater moral value; “. . . a still
more excellent way.” Because Paul uses the word “love” liberally here it’s
understandable why a bride and groom would want to hear these words at their
wedding. Yet, Paul is not speaking of marriage
here directly. He speaks of a relationship
love, an “agape” love, between us and God. This is the quality of love, Paul
wants us to know, that a Christian must pursue and that which the Holy Spirit
will pour into our hearts.
In inspiring words he writes that love is: “patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous not
inflated, not rude, not seeking its own self-interests, not quick tempered,
does not brood over injuries, or rejoice over the wrongdoing of others but
rejoices with the truth.” In telling us what love is “not,” Paul
beautifully reveals to us what true love, in pursuit of the good of another,
truly “is” and looks like. Paul wants us
to know that in a Christian community these are the characteristics of what
Christian behavior looks like and what you would encounter when entering that
community. Why, because in doing so we imitate
Christ himself who showed us the more excellent way of God’s love for us and
our love for each other. This expression and living out of agape love creates a
bond between Christ and its members and between the members themselves.
This love does not live only on surface emotions, with tears
and hugs and a presumption of unspoken forgiveness, but becomes for Christians
the pursuit of “greater spiritual gifts” that
the Holy Spirit will give us as members of the Body of Christ, the Church. It is what agape love creates. Compelling isn’t it? Easy it is not.
It seems to me, as Jesus himself often did in his parables and
in the sermon on the mount we read in Matthew, Paul is speaking of the great
ideal we must strive for. He holds up these characteristics when he says to his
Corinthian church: “love bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things . . .”
as what this kind of community would look like in the most perfect of all
worlds. They set for us a goal to aim
for as Paul states: “strive eagerly for
the greatest spiritual gifts.”
Keep aiming high, don’t give up, this is the goal to attain
through the grace of God in his Spirit. Paul
becomes a kind of spiritual coach urging us to keep training. Yes, we fall
short, but keep striving higher. So we put up with all sorts of things and make
sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel and the good of the other.
In this culture of free choice, self-gratification,
individualism, and abundant opportunity the words of Paul, God’s call to
holiness, is needed more than ever. Why put up with inconvenience when I can do
this the easy way? Mass each week is simply not that necessary because it
conflict with my busy schedule.
The positions of the Church on popular issues such as marriage are
too “out of touch.” And besides, what about the sexual abuse scandal and the
leadership of the Church. Haven’t they
failed miserably and caused pain among the members? We are confronted with our flawed human
nature in some disturbing ways indeed. Yet,
we are all in need of reform and are in constant pursuit of conversion. The Church is never reformed by those who
leave it.
In the Gospel, as last week, we see Jesus embracing his mission. Although rejected by his own town’s people in
Nazareth, he becomes the source of salvation for all. He set the ideal for all of us to make the kingdom
of God present here by creating these communities of agape through the
Spirit-given love that forms us in his own image. Our Eucharist creates and expresses the unity
in diversity that Paul writes of earlier.
Why not take some personal time and examine how I can become
more a contributor to this Body of Christ.
Where have I fallen short and how can I use the gifts God has given me
to build up the Body of Christ? Paul’s Corinthian letter today, I think, offers
us a golden moment of self-examination.
In place of the word “love” put your own name. For example, “John, Mary” is patient? Kind? Not
jealous? Not rude? Not selfish? Etc. Try
that sometime then say you’re sorry for the ways I have caused sin to be
present rather than virtue in the community of faith. It may be time to go to confession and admit
my shortcomings and to know that God indeed is waiting to forgive us.
Love means saying you’re sorry and to pursue all that the
Spirit wants to create in us as we love and always will the good of others
after Christ example.
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