SAINTS CORNELIUS, POPE, AND CYPRIAN, BISHOP, MARTYRS (MEMORIAL)

Love is patient, love is kind. 

Today’s first reading is one of the most popular passages chosen for weddings. And for good reason. Not only does it provide a very practical description of love, but it’s also a reading that we can all relate to, since God created us for love.

But look at the list of all the ways we’re supposed to love—be kind and patient, rejoice with the truth, bear all things. If we’re honest, we know that we come up short pretty often. And on top of our imperfect efforts to love, we have to accept other people’s imperfect efforts to love us. Those especially close to us can disappoint us the most, leaving us feeling unappreciated or hurt.

The good news is that there is a love that never fails—God’s love. It’s the one love you can count on when all other loves fall short. It is a love that will never abandon or take advantage of you. It’s a love that envelops you, lifts you up, and carries you through good times and bad. It’s a love that knows how much we struggle to love and yet doesn’t condemn us—a love that applauds our every effort to grow in love.

By contrast, our approach to love is often immature, like the childish thinking Paul talks about. We are prone to mistake infatuation, sex, or expensive gifts for love. Age and experience can help us wise up, but the only thing that will truly teach us about love is God—who is himself love! Through him, we learn that the less we focus on the way people are (or are not) loving us and the more we focus on the way we are loving them, the more we will experience his love.

Every day, God gives us countless ways to encounter his love: in prayer, in nature, in our loved ones, and even in our enemies. He also gives us countless opportunities each day to share his love. So pay attention and keep your heart soft. Follow Paul’s advice and “pursue love” wherever you see it (1 Corinthians 14:1). If you do, you’ll find that God in his love has always been pursuing you.

“Lord, shower me with your perfect love so that I can learn how to love perfectly.”

Psalm 33:2-5, 12, 22
Luke 7:31-35