Wednesday, September 16, 2020

 Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope, and Saint Cyprian, bishop, martyrs

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 7:31-35)

Both St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian were caught up in the intense persecution of mid-third century.  Both died martyrs for the faith.  Both also were involved in the debate within the Church regarding how to treat the lapsi.  These were Christians who apostatized or left the Church rather than be martyred.  The issue was whether they could be readmitted. 

Cornelius was besieged from two sides.  He thought the lapsi could be forgiven but should do penance.  Some of his critics, however, thought all apostates should be forsaken.  Evidently, critics on the left did not find a rigorous penance necessary.  Cyprian likewise thought the lapsi could be forgiven. 

The wisdom of both Cornelius and Cyprian in forgiving the lapsi is reflected in today’s first reading.  Paul’s famous elegy on love testifies that love bears all things, even apostasy.  Paul also claimed that love “does not brood over injury.”  Rather it gives hope by charting a course of repentance.  Sinners then can make amends for their wrongdoing and be strengthened to sin no more.  This is essentially what the Church prescribes for us in the Sacrament of Penance.  We are never forsaken in our sins.  We always, because of God’s intense love, have recourse to forgiveness.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 7:31-35)

Pope Benedict XVI wrote as helpful a reflection on love as one can hope to fine.  His encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) asks a critical question: Are there different kinds of love, or is it a single reality? If there are different kinds, then some kinds would have a higher quality than others.  In classical terms agape, normally considered as selfless love, would be better than eros or desire.  Quite unexpectedly, Benedict holds that love is singular, that agape is but a purified form of eros. Paul’s great elegy on love, comprising today’s first reading, should be read with Benedict’s insight in mind.

The passage consistently uses agape, yet it is the reading of choice at wedding ceremonies.  Its context bespeaks union, but its words relate consideration and care for the other.  It implies that love is the greatest of the virtues because it is most God-like.  While it does not deny one’s own desires, it seeks first the good of the other. 

St. Therese of Lisieux was surely correct when she recognized that through love anyone could achieve the highest of human desires – sanctity and eternal life.  Whether we are married, religious, or single if we dedicate ourselves to loving others we will not only brings others happiness but also find it ourselves.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 7:31-35)

A preacher once described the difficulty in preaching about love.  He said something like, “The only place where we are sure what love means is in tennis.  And there it means ‘nothing at all.’”  St. Paul has some difficulty in speaking about love.  In his famous “ode to love” making up the first reading today he makes no attempt to define it.  Rather he gives a phenomenological description telling us first the importance of love, then its similarities and dissimilarities, and finally its uniqueness. 

St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed that love animates the other virtues.  This means, as Paul illustrates in the text, that faith and generosity will come to nothing if love does not shape their ends.  Love saves faith from being ideology and makes it the way to eternal life.  Similarly, it rescues generosity from wastefulness and allows us to resemble God, our Father.

Paul never equates God with love like the First Letter of John, but he seems on the verge of this conclusion when he writes that of the three enduring virtues, love is the greatest.  Evidently, even in the Beatific Vision there will be need of faith, probably because God is an incomprehensible mystery, always beyond our understanding.  We may wonder about the need for hope if in everlasting life the human person has fulfilled her or his goal.  In any case, love is certainly the greatest theological virtue because it alone participates in God’s supreme activity.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 7:31-35)

In a song meant for the whole world, the Beatles famously crooned, “All you need is love.” They presented it in the first live telecast via international satellite. Their message was heard by 400 million people in twenty-six countries. The words echo St. Paul’s lesson in today’s reading from I Corinthians.

Yes, love is all that is needed, but not any kind of love. Love normally begins as eros or acquisitive love meant to satisfy one’s desire. Such love attracts people to one another and spurs them to work hard. But its motive needs to be purified of selfishness if it is to merit salvation; that is, if it is “all you need.” Paul rightly does not exclude faith and hope from a triumvirate with love. Faith turns one to Christ for help when life poses its challenges, and hope keeps in view the ultimate goal of life -- union with God.

Our society glorifies love, usually equating it with an erotic variety. We Christians do not eschew romantic love but recognize its limitations. Rather than an exclusive love for one or a few people, we strive for a higher kind that moves us to care about everyone and takes us much farther on life’s course.

Homilette for Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13)

A preacher once remarked about the difficulty in preaching about love. He said something like, “The only place we are sure that we know what we are talking about when we talk about ‘love’ is in tennis. And there ‘love’ means ‘nothing at all.’” We might notice how St. Paul suggests the difficulty in speaking about love by not attempting to define it in his famous “hymn to love” that comprises the first reading today. Rather he gives a phenomenological description telling us first the importance of love, then its similarities and dissimilarities, and finally its uniqueness. Let’s examine each of these issues.

St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed that charity or “love of friendship” animates all the other virtues. This means what Paul illustrates in the text. Eloquence and foresight, even faith and generosity will come to nothing if love does not shape their ends. We might say with Sartre that human life is a useless passion, if love did not provide it a transcendent purpose.

We get a glimpse of love’s nature by noting how caring it is of the other person. Love not only concerns itself with the other’s needs (“patient” and “kind”) but also avoids causing the other distress (“not inflated,” “not rude,” etc.). Joseph Pieper defines love as affirmation of another so that one can say, “It’s good that you exist!” This may sound like a weak-kneed definition, but it is meant to be comprehensive and inclusive like Paul with his lists of positive and negative adjectives for love.

Paul never equates God with love like the First Letter of John, but he seems on the verge of this conclusion when he writes that of the three enduring virtues, love is the greatest. Evidently, even in the Beatific Vision there will be need of faith, probably because God is an incomprehensible mystery, always beyond our understanding. We may wonder about the need for hope if in everlasting life the human person has fulfilled her or his goal. In any case, love is certainly the greatest theological virtue because it alone participates in God’s supreme activity.