“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
This reading for mass from the letter of Corinthians, is beautiful. It is so beautiful, in fact, that it is often chosen as the scripture passages for the sacrament of matrimony. Sometimes people lose sight of the first verses in scripture they heard during their first Mass together as a married couple. It’s all about love. Marriage, raising children well, being good practicing Catholics, our jobs, careers, saving for old age, taking care of elderly parents, serving the poor, etc., are all excellent things to do in life, but if love isn’t behind it all, then we have built our lives in vain. A house of cards that will fall in on itself, if we ever lose sight of the fact that love is what holds it all together. Our lives run the danger of falling apart if we ever lose sight of the fact that love is the point of life.
The last verse in the first reading defines the point of life more precisely:
“So faith hope and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
It is a good chance that if you were married in the Catholic Church, then these words were probably part of your wedding Mass. The church in her infinite wisdom, wanted to help couples start out their married life together, with a focus on the only things in life that really matter.
The rest of the first reading for mass explains what love acts like in real life situations:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompus, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
However, you shouldn’t disregard a person’s holiness just because of a gruff, rude, quick tempered, or prideful disposition either. At the root of all things could be a love of a magnitude that is only known by God.
There is a local story that is told, about a man who lived alone in an old, dilapidated house, in the middle of the city. He had a reputation for having a temper, was antisocial, disliked children and would have nothing personally to do with the community in which he lived. He never spoke to the neighbors or attended any community events.
The kids in the neighborhood kept cutting through his yard, to play in the alley behind his house. He would run out there with a shotgun and threaten to shoot them if they ever came on his property again. But, the kids still kept trying to slip past his attention, and cut through his yard on the way to the alley. This went on for many years. A new crop of kids kept showing up and the pattern continued.
One day, the old man died. There was only a couple of people present at his funeral. Who wanted to go to a grumpy old man’s funeral, that never cared about anyone but himself? However, afterwards his will was read. He had no living relatives and was an extremely rich man even though he had lived in an old dilapidated house all of his life. But, this grumpy old man left five million dollars to the city, for the sole purpose of building the children a park to play in, complete with a playground, swimming pool, basketball court and a baseball field. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house after his will was read. The grumpy old man actually loved the children very much, and he left them every last dime he had.
Only God can judge our hearts. He is the only one who really knows what is in them.
Jesus talks about the same kind of thing in today’s gospel. He compared the people of that time to children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, “We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.” Then he ended the gospel reading today by saying, “But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
The old man in the story today was vindicated by the love he had for all of the children in the community that he lived in. They just never had a clue what was in his heart, until it was too late and he had already died.
Is there someone in your life that maybe you don’t appreciate very much? Someone that is antisocial, and is difficult to get along with? Someone who appears to be the furthest thing from what you think a Christian should act like? If you remember, Jesus told us that prostitutes and sinners will sometimes make it into heaven, before the righteous, and that love covers a multitude of sins. One thing is for sure, there will be people in heaven one day, that will surprise us by their presence there.
Daily Mass Readings:
Corinthians 12:31-13:13 / Psalm 33 / Luke 7: 31-35
