LOVE DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH

PRAYER MOMENT                      

Wednesday 17 September 2014.

LOVE DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and it is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth. (I Cor 13:1-13)

Reflection. Paul’s hymn to love is chiselled out of his life experience. He mentions all the common attitudes of jealousy, selfishness and resentment, we meet every day, and says it is none of these. Love goes behind all the stances people take; it goes to the heart of what it is to be truly alive. It is to search for the truth in any situation, uncover it and live accordingly. Love is that passion that looks through, looks beyond, looks deep. We are so bound up in surface reactions of resentment and jealousy and the rest. Love frees us of these and urges us to look hard, ‘What is the truth of this situation?’ In our daily lives we constantly come across people who are resentful, bitter, prejudiced or simply complacent. None of them are living the truth. They are avoiding it. And we have to look in the mirror. What about me? Do I too ‘slip off’ facing the truth? ‘The truth will make us free’ (John 8:32)

  

 

Prayer. Lord Jesus, we want love but we do not want the price of love. Teach us to dig deep and see the cost of love and embrace it. Amen  

David Harold-Barry SJ