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Love: the greatest gift of the Holy spirit |
And I will show you still a more excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 12:31-13:13)
The Navarre Bible commentary remarks that in this passage, St Paul is encouraging the early Christians to put greater value on those gifts of the Holy Spirit which contribute most to the goal of the Church than on those which are spectacular. The commentary suggests that Paul probably has in mind the teaching he will develop (in chap. 14) about the superiority of graces and charisms to do with teaching and catechesis.
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Age quod agis (Do what you are doing) |
A wizened seminary instructor asked the students what they were doing the previous night at 10:00 and learned that three of them were playing billiards together. He asked them, “What would you have done if you were given the knowledge that you would die fifteen minutes later?”
The first seminarian said. “I would call my parents and tell them that I love them, and call my brother and mend the rift that has existed between us for the past year.”
The instructor replied, “That is very nice and sentimental, but it is the wrong answer.”
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On November 1, the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints. The Feast calls us to ponder our intended eternal destiny referred to in the book of revelations: “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands" (Rev 7:9).
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How many times in our life do we wish we could have another chance; a fresh start? Lent is the ultimate “do over.” We are given the chance to “reform our lives and turn to the gospel.”
Our society puts a great emphasis on New Years Day. We bury the regrets of the past year and look to a fresh start. We make resolutions to lose weight, exercise, quit smoking, read more, etc. How many people resolve to work toward spiritual improvement? How many of us make a resolution to go to Mass more often, read the bible regularly or pray daily? Ash Wednesday can be a wonderful “Spiritual New Years Day” for us. We are invited to take stock of ourselves; to identify those bad habits (or complacency) we have fallen into; and to change.
There is, however, a big difference between the New Years and Ash Wednesday conversions. No amount of champagne will ever cleanse us, but one single confession washes away all of our sins. We might be able to clean up our lungs and add days to our lives on earth by giving up smoking. But, by giving up sin, we clean up our souls and obtain eternity.
Many people may feel that Lent over-emphasizes our sins and our need to suffer. Lent is often perceived to be a depressing season during which we give up all the things we like and focus on our sins and failings. This way of looking at Lent really misses the point. Lent is a time that the Church asks us to take stock of ourselves and identify our failings. But, we are then called to work to change those failings. We are not to wallow in self-pity. Rather, we are to say “we are sorry” and move forward.
Saturday of the LOTW Kerygmatic Retreat is often referred to as a “dying day.” We hear about how we have separated ourselves from God and His plan for us through the original sin of Adam and Eve and through our own personal sin. We are asked to (1) Recognize our sin, (2) Repent of our sin, (3) Confess our sin, and (3) Reconcile with God and our neighbor.
Like on Ash Wednesday, we are called during Saturday of the Kerygmatic Retreat to take stock of those things which separate us from God. We are then called to give them up. We are called to suffer (a little) - not for the sake of suffering – but so that we might be filled with the love and joy that results from a purified relationship with our Lord.
Is it painful to recognize that we have willingly sinned against God? Yes! Is it hard to ask forgiveness? Yes! Is it hard to call to mind those hurts done to us throughout our lives and forgive those who have wronged us? Yes! Is it hard to change? Yes! But, is it worth the pain and effort? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Every Lent is an awesome gift to us. We are called to further purify ourselves and to draw closer to our loving Lord Jesus. We are reminded of the surrender that we made on our LOTW Retreat and every surrender that we have made throughout our lives. This year Lord, I want to know you better! This year Lord, I want to follow you closer! This year Lord I want to love you more! |
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Reflections of Pope Benedict XVI |
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"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." "Anyone who has come across something true, beautiful and good in his life -- the one true treasure, the pearl of great price -- hastens to share it everywhere, in the family and at work, in the contexts of his life"
(Deus Caritas Est, No. 1 & Homily at first Vespers of the solemnity of Pentecost, 3 June 2006).
In these words, Pope Benedict renews the call of John Paul (the Great) for a “new evangelization.” It is to each individual Christian who has encountered Jesus Christ to whom the task of evangelization is given. As the apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to boldly proclaim the Kerygma and to witness by their teachings, examples (and their deaths), so too are we able to call upon the Holy Spirit for the power and strength to live lives of witness and to speak anointed words to all.
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Reflections