LOVE

 

Love is long-suffering, is kind; love is not jealous; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; 5doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil; 6rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7covereth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8Love never falleth away. But whether there be prophesies, they shall be done away; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall be done away. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10but whenever that which is perfect should come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was an infant, as an infant I used to talk, as an infant I used to understand, as an infant I used to reason; but when I became a man, I did away with the things of the infant. 12For now we see by means of a mirror, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also was fully known. 13And there now abideth faith, hope, love, these three things; but the greatest of these is love.

In this passage from the Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul focuses on the true nature of Love. The genuine traits of this feeling—unfortunately so debased in recent years—are exalted in these words, which leave no room for false interpretations.

Yesterday as today, we have diverted this feeling toward pure materialism, outward gestures, and even degradation.

Love is the complete opposite of the ego: it is seeing oneself in the other, recognizing in the other the best of what one cannot achieve in one’s own being; it is inner completion. It is the exaltation of absolute good, of all that exists for happiness in this world, and it closes the doors to fear, violence, and oppression.

Where there is Love, there is joy and sharing: we become one by uniting our feelings and sharing our “nous” toward a communion of purpose and our hearts in mutual respect.

This is why man is not a perfect being: although he has known Perfect Love, which is Christ Jesus, the Son of God, he is still unable to love his neighbor perfectly. Within him dwell indifference, feelings of distrust and hostility, because he has not attained the full knowledge of God—neither with the mind, nor with the heart, nor in the spirit.

Man has not known God because he has not yet managed to abandon himself to Him. If he had known Him and, above all, if he had experienced Him in his own life, he would be able to recognize Him in the other. This does not happen, and therefore man looks only at himself and becomes incapable of perceiving the part that is missing in himself in order to be completed in the other.

Perfection does not belong to man, and so it seems that man is condemned to wander in continual search of this love. Some seek it, and it has a thousand faces; others seem to have found it, only to realize that it vanishes like smoke, understanding that it was not true love; still others give their lives to supreme Love, certain that they will never lose anything of what belongs to this life, but will rather improve their own existence.

Love is not absolutism: this is not what God asks of us, but only that we place it first, at the summit of our lives. It is only when our hearts become filled with many distracting things that, in that very moment, we lose the true purpose of our existence.

God is full Love—something we have all voluntarily forgotten.

Father Ambrogio