Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 4:22-43
Mass: 1 Co 12:31-13:13; Resp Ps 33; Lk 7:31-35
Love is patient, love is kind.
We have before us today two sources which help us to better understand the meaning of love. First, the well-known passage from Ch. 12-13 of St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians; second, St Benedict's Chapter on the Tools for Good Works, what one translator calls, 'Guidelines for Christian and Monastic Good Practice'. So as not to be a 'resounding gong or clashing symbol', what follows is a litany from both saints, 19 lines on this 19th day of the month, solid guidelines for Christian good practice!
Love is not jealous.
You are not to act in anger.
Love is not pompous.
You are not to nurse a grudge.
Love is not inflated.
Rid your heart of all deceit.
Love is not rude.
Never give a hollow greeting of peace.
Love does not seek its own interests.
Never turn away when someone needs your love.
Love is not quick-tempered.
Speak the truth with heart and tongue.
Love does not brood over injury.
Do not repay one bad turn for another.
Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth.
Do not injure anyone, but bear injuries patiently.
Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Do not speak ill of others.
Love never fails.
SAINT JANUARIUS, PRAY FOR US.
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