First of all, Paul prays that their love
would grow: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more . .
.” Paul knows that love is central to the Christian life. He knows that without
love all of our actions are useless. He is, guided by the Holy Spirit, the
author of that great love passage in 1 Corinthians. Listen to his words: “If I
speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a
resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can
fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Love
enables all spiritual gifts to be exercised properly.
If
we are going to live a life which honours God, love is key. For the two
greatest commandments, as expressed by Jesus, are love – we must love God and
love our fellow human being. Listen to the Word of the Lord: “Hearing that
Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an
expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as
yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” Jesus
was interested in building a community of love - a community that shone with
the beauty of love.
The
movie The Mission is about the South
American slave trade and the work of Jesuit missionaries on behalf of the
natives who were in danger of being sold into slavery. As the movie draws to a
close some of the missionaries choose to take up arms and fight against the
Portuguese army, but the chief missionary, played by Jeremy Irons, is unwilling
to fight. One of the other missionaries, played by Robert DeNiro, comes to
Jeremy Irons and asks for his blessing. He is unwilling to give it, saying that
if this other missionary is right to fight then he would have God’s blessing,
but if he is wrong to fight then his blessing won’t mean anything. One
particular phrase of Jeremy Irons stands out. He says “If might is right then
love has no place in the world. It may be so, it may be so. But I don’t have
the strength to live in a world like that.”
But my friends, I
think that this line, as good as it sounds on first hearing, gets something
backwards. It is much easier, I believe, to resort to fighting, anger and
violence than it is to love with true, Christian, love. To love our enemy; to love
when it will cost us dearly; to love when it means we will suffer for it. Do we
have the strength to live in a world where we are called to love, even though
there is so much hate, and so much indifference? We can gain this strength
through prayer. If we are to make any progress in the school of Christ, if we
are to grow as Christians, then we must grow in love.
When we pray for
people who are dear to us, we need to be praying for their spiritual growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment