Wednesday 18 September 2024

Today is Wednesday the 18th of September in the 24th week of Ordinary Time. Leslie Jordan sings, ‘Love Will Never Fail’. Love is patient, love is kind It has no arrogance or pride It seeks the good of others first It keeps no record of wrong or hurt It finds no joy in wickedness But rejoices in the truth Through it all, it will endure Love will never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never fail Though all prophecy will cease Though all knowledge, it will fade Oh, an end will come to speech Even death will pass away We will see You face to face And Your mercy will prevail Faith and hope they will remain Love will never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never, never fail Love will never fail Today’s reading is from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. How can any of us measure up when we hear these familiar yet deeply challenging words? But remember, God is love. God encompasses all the loving attributes described in the passage. Stay with that for a moment. How has God shown patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness to you recently? If you were to express regret to God for a time you have withheld love in a particular situation, how might you word it? As you listen to the passage again, let your heart be lifted up. There will be times - many times - when you’ve been deeply loving towards others. Call to mind those times with joy and let God smile on the love that you show. What do you want to say to God now? Let God know how deeply you feel, expressing both your regrets and your joys. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.