19 September 2018
Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading is the standard reading for weddings. You know how it goes… “Love is patient love is kind….” Unfortunately, frequently, the line prior to the litany of love’s attributes gets omitted: “Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.” Besides all the very true attributes concerning the nature of Love, today’s reading reminds us that humanity has a spiritual nature and that a confusion between the means and the actual goal of our ultimate wellbeing will only result in envy, jealousy, and despair. Love, as Thomas Aquinas notes, is that action which brings someone to their proper goal in life, which of course is union with God. Towards that end, as we all know, requires patience, self-sacrifice, and humility.
September 19th, 2018