“Love
is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Many of us are good or just to
someone else so that he or she, in turn, might be good or just to us. This is
not love, but rather indirect egotism. When we are caught in the rhythm of that
sort of reciprocal exchange, we are very impatient with any negative response
to a positive approach that we have made.
If
someone responds to our kindness with hostility or even indifference, we
quickly withdraw our compassion. But the person characterized by true love is
not interested in reciprocation but simply in the good of the other. In other
words, he/she is willing to wait out any resistance.
True
love has nothing to do with resentment, for it wants the success of the other.
And the person who loves is not conceited, because she feels no need to raise
herself above the other. Just the contrary: she wants the other to be elevated,
and hence she takes the lower place with joy. Once we understand the nature of
true love, we know why “it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). The one who loves is not
focused on himself but on the object or person of his love. He is not
preoccupied with his own weariness or disappointment or frustration. Instead he
looks ahead, hoping against hope, attending to the needs of the one he loves.
“Love
never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). In heaven, when we are sharing the divine
life, even faith will end, for we will see and no longer merely believe; hope
will end, for our deepest longing will have been realized. But love will
endure, because heaven is love. Faith, hope, love remain; but the greatest of
these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
To everyone, may you have a fruitful and joyful month of June in the company of Saint Paul!
No comments:
Post a Comment