Everything begins and ends with love. It all comes down to this. I recently read a short story by an author I enjoy very much, What Men Live By by Leo Tolstoy. While this is a work of fiction, Tolstoy has some interesting points and left me thinking about them more than once. I will not give the entire story away in hopes that I may entice you to read it for yourself. However, I will suggest to you that it ties in nicely with today’s readings about love. Love with an upper-case L and perhaps love with a lower-case l.
“I knew before that God gave life to men and desires that they should live; now I understood more than that… (What Men Live By)”. He goes on to say that God desires man to live in community and, therefore, withholds revealing certain things in order for men to do so.
We all know at least parts of today’s first reading from Corinthians. We have likely heard it read at weddings. I encourage you to really sit with each line and meditate on what St. Paul is saying. In doing so, I think that you will find it is much more than a beautiful reading we enjoy hearing. Love is a lot less of a “feeling,” and a lot more of an act of the will. It tells us how to love another.
Love Never Fails
Faith, hope, and love…. And the greatest of these is love. God’s love will last forever. As human beings we will come up short, this is guaranteed. Yet, we are assured with the knowledge and promise that God’s love will never come up short—just the opposite.
The gospel talks about people complaining and making rash judgements. They said Jesus was a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But! “But wisdom is vindicated by all her children (Luke 7:35).
One who has wisdom is a child of God, which ties in the first reading about faith, hope, and love. We must have all three to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Yet, the greatest is love. Furthermore, this gospel reading is a call to repentance. May we remember to look within ourselves before casting judgement on others. Then, and only then are we ready to love with a lowercase l, filled with Love Himself.
