Love is all what matters!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 16, 2020: 1 Corinthians 12:33 - 13:13; Luke 7: 31-35 

Reflecting on the famous passage from the first reading today, one can be reminded of the saying from Buddha: in the end, only three things matter, how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you! Jesus had further simplified all this and said: Love one another as I have loved you; that alone matters! St. Paul understood his Master so well, and he centred his teaching on the hymn of love that he presents us with today. St. Augustine, who was a faithful follower of Pauline perspective of Christ, surely was not exaggerating when he said: love and do what you wish! Oh! what a lineage!

In fact, the only condition that Jesus places in sharing his identity with us was LOVE. We find that in Jn 13:35, when Jesus gives us an identity card - by this they will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. We know this very well, and we do not fail to understand it too. But we hardly live it, because we stop with knowing and understanding. When it comes to interpreting and practising, we have an altogether different logic of thinking - a logic that is opposed to that of Christ!

That is what Jesus is calling 'dancing to the tunes and crying to the dirges' of the world! Yes, at times we can be deceived by interpretations and cultural fads around us. Look at how today, love is considered a relative, emotional feeling. Is it truly a 'Christian' understanding of love? Christianly speaking love is not a deceptive concept...it is an absolute criterion; love is not a mere feeling, it is a commitment; love is not about pleasing and pleasure, it is all about giving and suffering for the other! That is why St.Paul so beautifully lists the characters of true 'Christian' love. 

Those traits the Word offers us today are fool proof ways of being a Christian. Pleasing others, dancing to tunes, earning name and fame... these actually should not matter. After all, for a true Christ-ian, love is all what matters!