The More Excellent Way: Love as the Heart of Christianity
September 18, 2024 - Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 12:31-13:13
Since its beginning, Christianity was known as a religion of love, and Christians were marked by deeds of charity. For Saint Paul, charity surpasses any spiritual gifts (see 1 Cor 12:31), and the great Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church, Saint John of the Cross, said that “at the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.”
The hymn on love-agape is the summit of Paul's theological and spiritual thinking. This is "the more excellent way" that surpasses all other ways. The hymn has a threefold structure. In the first part, the apostle states that without love all our gifts and actions are useless (1 Cor. 13:1-3). Then, he describes the qualities of love-agape (1 Cor. 13:4-7). Finally, he reveals to us the enduring character of love (1 Cor. 13:8-13).
In the first part, Paul gives us examples of extraordinary gifts and actions such as speaking in angelic languages, prophesying, having faith that moves mountains, giving away all possessions, and even offering one's own body to be burned—as some manuscripts read verse 3. One wonders whether Paul had some concrete examples in mind when writing this part. One also wonders what could motivate someone to give up all their possessions or hand over their body if not love.
Love-agape has seven "positive" and eight "negative" qualities. Someone filled with God's love is able to be patient and kind towards others and bear all sorts of trials for the sake of the Gospel. Someone filled with God's love is unable to have negative emotions or act harmfully towards another person. These qualities of love are evident in Jesus. We could replace the word "love" with Jesus, and we would have a perfect description of our Lord confirmed by the Gospel accounts. But what would happen if we replaced "love" with our names? Would it be an honest description of ourselves? Am I patient and kind? Do I bear all things? Or perhaps, am I rude and inflated with pride?
In the last section of this poem, Paul highlights three spiritual gifts—prophecy, languages, and knowledge. Perhaps these three gifts were highly valued in the Corinthian community. But they cannot stand in comparison with love-agape. "Love never ends," but they are partial and will cease (see 1 Cor. 13:8). Moreover, even among the three theological virtues—faith, hope, and love—love is the greatest (see 1 Cor. 13:13).
The hymn on love-agape has had a transforming effect on many Christians across centuries, but the one that is often associated with it is Saint Therese of Lisieux. While searching for her particular vocation in the Church, she meditated on chapters 12 and 13 of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. While reading chapter 12 of that letter, she realized that the Church was composed of many members equipped with different spiritual gifts for the common good of all. But she wanted to know where her place was in the Church. The answer came in chapter 13. It was that love-agape without which all other gifts are useless that revealed to her her vocation. At last, she found what she was searching for, and she explained:
"O Jesus, my Love, at last I have found my vocation, my vocation is Love!... Yes, I have found my place in the Church, and it is you, O my God, who have given me this place... in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love!.... Thus I shall be all things: thus my dream shall be realized!!!"
Let love-agape be the mark of our lives and let the world know that God himself is LOVE.