Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
Reading 1
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
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.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
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.
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.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Alleluia
See John 6:63c, 68c
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life,
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 7:31-35
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like 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.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Meditation
Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us give thanks to God for the gift of a new day. Our world today moves to the rhythm of several watchwords: money, power, success, prestige, and great achievements. But in all this, do we first know how to live to the rhythm of love? This is the question that this excerpt from Saint Paul’s letter, known as the “Hymn to Love”, invites us to ask ourselves.
In this passage, Saint Paul presents love as the most precious gift and as the foundation of the whole Christian life. He tells us that we may speak the languages of men and of angels, have the gift of prophecy, and so on. But without love, all these things are worthless.
He then shows us what true love is by giving us its qualities, so that each of us can identify with them. Love is patient, kind, not jealous, not proud, not arrogant, not self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. It rejoices in the truth, is able to forgive, to trust, to hope, and to persevere. True love is therefore not merely an emotion or a feeling. It becomes a way of living and treating others, because Christian greatness does not primarily consist in having great gifts, great responsibilities, or great achievements, but in having great love.
Indeed, society places emphasis on our achievements, our wealth, our social status, and all the other things that pass away after our death. But the Word of God does not ask how many people we have impressed through these things; rather, it asks how many people we have loved. Love gives eternal value to our actions. We may lose our wealth, our responsibilities, our prestige, some of our abilities, and even some of our achievements. But what we have accomplished out of love for God and our neighbour is never lost. It is not about doing great things, but about doing small things with great love.
Serving someone with love, listening to someone patiently, forgiving an offence, visiting a sick person, encouraging someone who is suffering, or giving up the need to always be right—these may seem like small gestures in the eyes of the world, but they can become great in the eyes of God when they are done in love.
Let us therefore take a moment of silence and ask ourselves these two questions: Can the people I meet recognize something of Christ’s love through the way I treat them? What qualities of love listed by Saint Paul do I still need to cultivate in myself?
Let us pray
Thrice-Holy Father, You reveal to us today that the greatest treasure is neither money, nor power, nor knowledge, nor even success, but love. You ask us to love as You do. We acknowledge that we are not always capable of doing so. Sometimes we are impatient, judgmental, angry, self-seeking, unable to let go of the wounds in our hearts, and we struggle to forgive. Give us, Lord, a new heart. Teach us to love without calculating what we will receive in return. May our faith not remain only in our words, but may it be manifested in the way we love.
Amen.
Intercession
Let us pray for people who are alone and longing for someone’s presence, for the sick who hope for a visit, for wounded people who struggle to forgive, for those who are discouraged and need a word of hope, and for families divided by misunderstandings and resentment. May they rediscover the power of love through acts of charity.
Virgin Mary, intercede for them and for us!
Spiritual Exercise
Today, let us choose three qualities of love and, before the end of the day, intentionally and discreetly perform three small acts of love related to those qualities.
BEBISSI Stéphanie
(Community of the Disciples of the Living Christ)
