LOVE

   Our second reading today is probably the most popular wedding reading of all time.  Show of hands—how many of you used this reading at your wedding? I know we did. It is, after all, a wonderful reading.  The thing is, St. Paul wasn’t thinking about weddings when he wrote it.  In fact, he wasn’t even focusing on what love is like.  Rather, he was telling the Corinthians that, in the end, nothing matters more than the answer to the question: are you living out the love of Christ?

      But why did Paul write to the Corinthians about the importance of love?  In order to answer that question, we have to know a little about Corinth at this time in history.  During this period it was a thriving Christian community—at least on the surface.  Most of the believers in Corinth were extremely excited about their faith. There were people with tremendous gifts in that community.  There were teachers, healers, and even some who could speak in tongues.  There were profits.  The word of God was being proclaimed “religiously,” pardon the pun.  The people prayed, and preached the wonderful gospel message that Jesus had Risen from the dead, and that all who believed in him and followed his teachings would live eternally with him in Paradise.  It seemed that everything needed for a vibrant church was happening there in Corinth—except for one thing…the most important thing: the Church in Corinth didn't have enough love in it. Or, as Father Vernon used to say from this very ambo, they talked the talk but didn’t always walk the walk.  In spite of all the wonderful things that were happening there; in spite of all the spiritual wisdom that was shared; in spite of all the faith that the people claimed to have, some very “non-Christian” things were going on in Corinth.  Two elders dragged each other off to court instead of making peace with one another; folks ate and drank too much while others went hungry; public disagreements about which of the apostles who visited Corinth were the best and which were the worst; people believing that their contribution to the community of faith was more significant than the contributions being made by others, and therefore their views on things should be considered more important.  In short, people in Corinth were, at times, rude to one another, impatient, arrogant, greedy, selfish, egotistical, and unkind.  This, even though they preached the Word of God regularly and had otherwise displayed some wonderful spiritual gifts.

 

  And so Paul writes to the people of Corinth about love in a way that is perhaps hard to understand.  Listen to what Paul says: “If you have faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love - you are nothing.  If you give away everything you own, even handing your body over, but do not have love, you have gained nothing.”  Basically, if you have tremendous faith in God and hope in the resurrection, but do not have love, you’re out of luck. Wow, right?

 

  So love is kind of a big deal. It’s the test of our faith.  Just as “they’ll know we are Christians by our love,” by the same token, they’ll know we’re not very good Christians by our lack of love.  And so we must ask ourselves: “what is love?” Love involves seeking the highest good for God's creation.  God first, neighbor second, self…last.  Love is being more interested in the well-being of others than our own.  It is seeing everyone through the lens of Christ, and treating them as Christ has treated us . And so, it’s not for me to judge you, or for you to judge me, but rather, we must look at ourselves and ask: am I focused on Christ, or on myself?  Am I showing the love of God to others--doing what Jesus would do, and allowing Jesus to work through me?  Or, am I allowing my feelings, my frustrations, my needs, my pride, to dominate my interactions with others?

 

  Let’s look at the reading again, and see if we can put ourselves in the place of love…    

I am patient.  I am kind. I am not jealous. I am not pompous. I am not inflated.  I am not rude. I do not seek my own interests. I am not quick-tempered. I do not brood over injury.  I do not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoice with the truth.

I bear all things. I believe all things. I hope all things. I endure all things.

 

That sounds really hard, doesn’t it?  But we could very easily insert Jesus’ name in place of love, couldn’t we?  God is love.  Jesus is love.  And he can help us be more like him, if we will affix our gaze on him. Jesus abides in us.  He’s in my heart and yours, ready to help us love as he loves us.  And the way we do that is to be focused on him and on his example; to ask ourselves as we open our mouths or move our hands--is this what Jesus would say?  Is this what Jesus would do? Remember those bracelets that people wore, WWJD?

 

  What about on those occasions when you don't feel loving?  Do the caring thing anyway.  Don't feel like being kind?  Say something nice about the person who is being rude to you anyway.  Don't think that someone else's plan will work as good as yours?  Try doing it their way anyway.  Don't think you can possibly do what God is calling you to do? Start doing it… anyway.  Strive for the greater gifts--the greatest of which is love. Strive for it--and live as if you have it--for the truth is, you do.  Christ died to bring love to you and to show you what it’s like, and he rose from the dead on the third day to show that it's power is greater than the power of sin and death.  As Pope Francis said recently in his message for Lent:  “Love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness.”

 

 

    For Paul, love was the base of Christianity, and the measure of its success.  It is the greatest of all the virtues; it is the virtue that most makes us human.  If we want to change the world we live in today, we need to find ways to make love visible in the world. We can say we have love, but it’s in the doing of all those other things that makes love a reality.  If we are patient with the cashier at the grocery store…if we are kind to the homeless person asking for money…if we are not jealous of our neighbor and his fancy new car—or pompous about all of our possessions…if we are not rude to the “foreigners” who just moved in across the street…if we put the interests of our spouse, our children, our parents, ahead of our own.  These are all simple signs of love in action.  Simple, but not necessarily easy.

   When you look up the word “love” in the dictionary, it’s classified as a noun.  I remember being taught as a young boy that a noun is a “thing” and a verb is an “action word.”  Each one of us is charged by Jesus Christ to make “love” an action word; not just something we have, but something we choose to do…every day.  So whether you read St. Paul, or listen to Sir Paul…George, John, and Ringo, all we really need is love