RBWords

     Upon hearing this passage proclaimed aloud, young heads will nod eagerly and older heads more slowly.  St. Paul's famous praise of love as the highest gift of the Spirit is like an examination of conscience!  How many of us can love in the way he describes?  The part about "bears all things" and "endures all things" sticks out at me because I would say that to do that, love has to be "tough!"

     St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that human friendship is the best earthly analogy we have for a relationship to God.  For a friendship to "succeed" and grow and endure, there has to be a lot of mutual acceptance.  There also has to be a lot of change or "conversion."  As with any friend, we cannot make God into our own image and likeness or expect God to meet our every need.  If we let someone else into our life in a profound way, we can expect that this experience is going to change us.  When I give a retreat, one of the questions I challenge the retreatants to answer is: "How am I loving?"  Part of this includes doing a "history" of love in their lives.  This can help one to realize what one's relationship to God has been like as well as relationships with others over the years.  How close is that experience to what St. Paul describes as "love?"  

     As I age more deeply into "elderhood," I find myself ever more grateful to God every day for the friendships that have "endured all things" and that assure me that God is truly active in my life through others.  That kind of "toughness" is a lifetime challenge, but one well worth the living.  AMEN