“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”

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear from St Paul…The reading should be familiar to all of us and is used at many Wedding Masses…..”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”……How easy it is for us to become “impressed” with our own accomplishments….To value our achievements over people…….To want to be and in many cases be “right” but at the same time be very wrong because our heart is not centered upon God’s love……As Catholics if love of God and love of neighbor is not the foundation of our words and actions…Then everything we do amounts to nothing!…Its not enough to be right….Its not enough to speak the Truth…Jesus spoke the Truth and Jesus did what was right…Because he loved people…If we do not love people….It does not matter that we are “right”….Because then being “right” turns into being “wrong”!

“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”

Now that I am a father, I look back at the many times I disobeyed my parents and how my parents not only forgave me, did not “brood over injury” and through it all loved me unconditionally……Life is marathon not a sprint….And we are all a work in progress….As a father of five I must view my children as a “work in progress”….I must see the finished product in the here and now and form them by word and example…In the process we make mistakes…In the process the kids make mistakes…We forgive each other…We keep trying…Keep improving…And in the end, God willing…We “arrive” at the ” finished product”….This is how God views each of us…Think about how God has had to “endure” our bad behavior…Think about how many times God has forgiven us when we ask him too in the Sacrament Confession…..Yet we are so quick to “write other people off”…If God was to think like that each of us would be finished!…Again, as a father I must know that my children will make mistakes…That I will make mistakes…But we must not give up…Love is a choice…It “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”…And with the help of God’s grace love grows……Without love we lose our humanity….God is not interested in us “ticking off boxes”…..It’s not enough to be “right” because if you do not have love in your heart, you are wrong even if you are right!…..Love for it to be real is in for the long haul and in that journey, God forms us…..We must view others, especially those close to us with the same mindset…..”Rome was not built in a day”…But be assured of one thing…God is the “master builder”…He can turn sinners into saints…This he has done many times throughout the centuries…And he can and will do it again…He can do this to you…If you let him!

“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”

The more I reflect on this reading by St Paul from Mass today, I think about why he wrote this…St Paul was an impressive man….He did amazing things in his life and yet he understood that everything he did and accomplished means nothing if he does not love God and people…Paul was able to “step back” and see things clearly as God sees them…Can we?…..Do we simply want to be “right”…Because you can be “right” and still be “wrong” if you do not have love in your heart.

“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”