Sunday, January 30th 2022 | By Rev. Michael P. Hanifin
The second reading from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time is very popular among couples on their Wedding Day. It offers some very concrete examples of love in action: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, … it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). In our efforts at love, we want to give rather than to receive (Acts 20:35). How do I know if I am offering “enough” out of gratitude for all that God has given to me? What is the measure?
Saint Paul tells us in Sunday’s second reading — the “measure” is the love that we put into each of these aspects of our lives. “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 hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” God is not after a particular number. What He wants us is not “stuff” to be given over to Him but our very selves.
Real love is not a sentiment. Real love is manifested in living a virtuous life. We read later in 1st Corinthians 13 that real love takes strength: it is patient, kind, humble, other-centered, truth-seeking, and long-suffering. Love is the heroic giving of oneself even when it is uncomfortable; especially then. Love looks like Jesus. It lives like Jesus.
Sometimes, living like Jesus is challenging. We see this in the Gospel from Sunday’s Mass where we find Jesus in action, preaching in the synagogue in His own hometown. He spoke the truth to the people He knew and loved, the ones He grew up with and shared His early days with. How did they respond? They were filled with fury and ran Him out of town, with the intent to throw Him from a cliff! Yet Jesus is undeterred. He passed right through their midst and pressed forward with the mission His Father had entrusted to Him.
We are called to live with this same strength and determination, fueled by the power of love and by gratitude for all God has given us. Love is not a feeling but an action. As Christians we are called to be Christ-like. Let us place our love for Him in our actions