So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
If I had a dollar for every wedding celebration, I presided at in which the couple selected the beautiful lyric passage about love from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, that is our Second Reading today, I’d be a rich man! Of course, on the day that celebrates and seals a couple’s love in the midst of the Christian community, there is no better passage that speaks of love’s power to uplift, heal, forgive and to make new than what we have in our second reading today.
Love, mercy and compassion represent the heart of the Good News of Jesus Christ. There is no way around it. Upon these virtues lies the very heart of God our Father’s existence as expressed in his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
Not long ago, I met someone who introduced themselves to me as an ‘orthodox Catholic!’ Of course, underlying such a tribal label is the kind of judgmental hypocrisy that so often forgets the heart of the Gospel message of inclusion, love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. It is precisely this kind of ideological self-identity that is ripping our beloved Church apart. It is exactly this kind of arrogance that is burning down bridges to so many who are seeking spiritual meaning and purpose in their lives within the rich tradition of our Church only to have doors slammed in their face with the not so subtle sign, ‘you are not worthy!’
I’m grateful that our Universal Pastor and Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis, understands well the heart of the Gospel of Compassion and Love and seeks every opportunity to be the bridge builder that the very ancient word, pontifex, from which we get the English word, Pontiff, implies. Perhaps, that is why he is so vilified in social media by those who hyperbolically refer to themselves as ‘orthodox Catholics.’ Sadly, in all of the 47 years of my priesthood, I have never heard such disgraceful and hateful epithets hurled at the Vicar of Christ, tragically, even by a few who hold the office of Bishop.
Perhaps, in these days where hurtful words seem to trip off our lips so easily, even by those who should know better, we all need to hear again the words of St. Paul, not just with our ears but most importantly with our hearts:
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.