Year: 2024

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1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
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 if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord.

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We just heard some of the most famous words ever written in the New Testament: Saint Paul’s words on love. They’re often read at weddings, as couples promise to treat each other accordingly. 

As a matter of fact, a couple stood before this very altar on Saturday as the bride’s mother read Paul’s words during Mass on their behalf. 

I’ve even celebrated funerals in which a person’s family looks back gratefully over their loved one’s life, saying, “That was her. We experienced such love firsthand.”

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But who was Paul thinking about while writing this Letter to the Corinthians? Was he being a lofty dreamer? A hopeless romantic? 

Or was there someone Paul knew who embodied all of these traits?

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Paul must’ve been thinking about his Savior, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross for him… and us.

While nailed to that tree, hanging in between two thieves, Jesus fulfilled every word Paul says about love.

(Those at Mass this morning can) gaze upon the crucifix suspended behind me – a life-size, almost precise depiction of our Lord’s sacrifice. As I re-read Paul’s words on love, see how Jesus fulfills them during those final moments of his life.

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth..

…It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

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May Christ’s love, which has been poured into our hearts at baptism, make us more and more like him, “who first loved us and gave himself for us.”

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Image credits: (1) Facebook (2) Medium (3) Christ Crucified, Velazquez

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1 Cor. 12: 12-14, 27-31

Brothers and sisters:
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many.

Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it.
Some people God has designated in the Church
to be, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers;
then, mighty deeds;
then gifts of healing, assistance, administration,
and varieties of tongues.
Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?
Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

The Word of the Lord.

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Imagine waking up one day, discovering you had five thumbs, four legs, and three noses; no fingers, no arms, and no mouth. How miserable your life would be. In fact, you’d soon be dead!

Or, on a communal-level, imagine if the waste collectors didn’t pick up our trash; mail wasn’t delivered; landscapers quit; teachers didn’t teach; priests didn’t preach; police didn’t police; adults didn’t work; and people didn’t pray.

How awful – and, frankly, unlivable – our world would be!

Yet how often do we go through life taking the most basic functions of our body and society for granted?

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It takes all of us to make life work.

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The same is true in the Church.

Every person must contribute to the life and growth of our faith community; otherwise, it’d cease to exist. 

This is Saint Paul’s point in our first reading. As he says to the Corinthians: 

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many are one body, so also Christ… Whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, we are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”

What part of Christ’s body am I? How do I contribute to the life and the mission of the Church?

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Perhaps the Lord is calling us to be grateful today – not only for the contributions that we make to society and to the Church, but also for everyone else who helps to make our world go ‘round.

Share that gratitude with another today.

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Image credits: (1) Science Universe, YouTube (2) Saint Chrysostom’s Church (3) FreePik

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1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33:

Brothers and sisters:
In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact
that your meetings are doing more harm than good.
First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church
there are divisions among you,
and to a degree I believe it;
there have to be factions among you
in order that also those who are approved among you
may become known.
When you meet in one place, then,
it is not to eat the Lord’s supper,
for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper,
and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.
Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink?
Or do you show contempt for the Church of God
and make those who have nothing feel ashamed?
What can I say to you? Shall I praise you?
In this matter I do not praise you.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my Body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my Blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

The Word of the Lord.

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Saint Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians before any of the Gospels were written. Thus, we have in today’s first reading the first words ever recorded as spoken by Jesus. 

“For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,” Paul says, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said”:

“This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me… This cup is the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.”

Paul is reminding the Corinthians that, when Mass is celebrated, they are, in fact, receiving the Promised Presence of Jesus Christ himself!

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Such a profound mystery should leave the Corinthians in awe, forever changed. However, this isn’t always the case.

Rather, some are “eating and drinking judgment upon themselves,” Paul says, “because they are not discerning what the body means.”

There are two sins, in particular, that he is addressing. 

Some of the wealthier Christians saw themselves as superior to their less fortunate neighbors. They failed to understand that, in Christ, we are all one body, and therefore equals. True Christians do not jealously guard what they have; rather, they freely give it away.

As Saint Francis later says, “It is in giving that we receive.”

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Secondly, some of the Corinthians do not appreciate what the Eucharist actually is, Christ’s gift of his very self. This idea still lingers in some today.

This does not mean that we must be perfect to receive Communion; as Pope Francis says, “the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect.”

Rather, like the centurion in today’s Gospel, we humbly recognize the Presence of Jesus, and say: 

“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

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Image credits: (1) Christ Pantocrator, Sinai (2) Catholic Answers Shop (3) Jesus Healing the Servant of Centurion, Veronese