A still more excellent way…

Gift:  Piety (Reverence)

Reading:  Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way.  Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.  So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:8,13)

The full reading, minus the 31st verse of the 12th chapter…

  The sound is a little off but the message comes through, I think…

Observation:  I apologize for being all over the second reading today to pick the verses that were speaking to me.  Hopefully, it makes some sense what I ended up with.  What is going through my mind is, of course, the youth that will hear this reading today.  Specifically, a young man that I recently gave this reading to in order to calm him down from a break up.  He had heard a voice telling him to read the book of Corinthians, but he wasn’t able to focus past his grief to actually read it.  When he came to me, I read him essentially the second reading from the Mass readings today.  The one part that I did not have which I think was lacking, was the last verse of the 12th chapter, which was in the first choice of the second reading for today and I believe clearly sets up the beginning of the 13th chapter.

Personification:  Love (Charity)  I will be striving today and for the rest of my life to quickly sense the needs of others around me and react to their needs out of charity, rather than obligation.  To me, this way is the more excellent way that Paul is talking about when he sets up the 13th chapter in the first book of the Corinthians.  A truly loving heart is not something that you are necessarily born with, although my wife may have been, it is something that takes effort to grow in your heart and the more you become like love, the more you become truly who you are supposed to be.

Prayer:  Lord, I know that I have failed to keep a lid on my temper this week and I hope that I did not do any major damage to the people that you have brought close to me in my life by my anger over present situations.  Please help me to show them the spirit of love that you are trying to build in my heart and keep me out of your way.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.