Chapter 17 – What Is Love? 1 Corinthians Chapter 13
1 Corinthians Chapter 13 tells us this – (Below is taken directly from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/13)
1If I speak in human and angelic tongues* but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.a2And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.b3If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.c
4* Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,d5it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,e6it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.f
8* Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.9For we know partially and we prophesy partially,10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.12At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.g13* So faith, hope, love remain, these three;h but the greatest of these is love.
There is a song called Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. I don’t even know what that means. In our world today we see #LOVEWINS all over the place. Love wins what? Do we even know what Love is, or what a Virtue is? One definition of virtue states – behavior showing high moral standards.
We have also blurred the lines of what equality means. It seems almost everything and anything is to be tolerated or seen as equal or you or I are labelled a bigot if we disagree with popular opinion or rather what is accepted as popular opinion but in reality may not even be.
I played several sports growing up and was blessed to play football from age 7-22, culminating in a 4 year Division 3 college football career. My brother was blessed to play Division 1 college football. We were not equals on the football field. He was bigger, stronger and tougher. If I stepped on an NFL field and tried to play I would get injured as most people would. We are not equal. Some are just better athletes than others and we are not all equal athletically.
I have an undergraduate college degree. I am not as well-educated and do not have an IQ equal to someone who has a PhD or advanced degree. Some are just smarter than others. We are not all of equal intelligence.
My car is a car, not a rock. I can try to tell people a big rock is really my car, but it’s not. My mechanic knows how to fix a car. My lawyer knows how to practice law, my doctor knows how to practice medicine and my priest and church leaders in authority are learned and studious in moral teaching. The world or culture practices relativism, which is not rooted in moral study.
A dog is a dog and a cat is a cat.
I think you get my point.
I believe in God. He is the Creator of life. Only He can author it, although he uses us as His instruments in everything, and only He has the right to take a human life, not another person or government.
I also don’t believe God makes mistakes. He made everything. Lastly he made man from the dust of the earth, breathing life into him (so God’s breath of Life is in us), but man could not find a suitable partner so God put the man in a deep sleep, took a rib from him and out of man’s rib made woman. Now take note here, God could have taken a bone from man’s foot or from his skull. Why did God take the rib bone? (Read Genesis Chapter 1).
God took the rib bone because man and woman are to stand and live side by side as equals, one is not to put the other down in any way intellectually or emotionally nor is one to step on or over the other, hence the rib bone, but if man and woman are equal why do they look differently, why are their bodies built differently and why are men for the most part physically stronger than women in that they can lift more weight, run faster and jump higher? Why didn’t God make man and woman exactly the same? I will let you ponder that.
Genesis chapter 1 goes on to say the first man, Adam, when he saw the woman, he joyfully proclaimed at last, this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh! But yet man and woman are not exactly the same or rather equal at everything. How can this be?
Man and Woman compliment each other and fit together like a glove in hand, that’s why. Man and Woman together, along with the breath of God, can create another human being. This was from the beginning, the way it was, God’s plan for salvation and God’s plan for human sexuality. Read Pope Saint John Paul II “Theology of The Body”.
This is the way it has been forever. It is more than just religious, that is why we call it natural law. The great non-religious thinkers like Plato and Aristotle and others accepted this natural plan for human sexuality as did the great empires in Greece, Rome and before and thereafter even though Homosexuality also existed and is mentioned in the Bible several times starting near it’s beginning but yet marriage was always between a man and a woman.
Were all these great minds throughout history wrong, not to mention Christian giants, The Apostle St. Paul, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and so many others. Are all these people who have gone before us wrong and stupid all of a sudden?
My view is through the lens of my faith, specifically, my faith as an Orthodox Catholic, which means I am behind and in defense of all the teachings of The Catholic Church and do not pick and choose only teachings I like or agree with. Let me also state I am a sinner and I have not always followed Church teaching 100% even though I knew The Church’s teachings and knew I was committing sin and my formed conscience told me this and I went to the sacrament of Confession regularly and met with my priests to discuss spiritual formation and tried my best to learn and grow in the faith, however, I really wanted God to bend His will to what I wanted. I was not bending my will to what God wanted for my life and I felt like a slave and coward for many years. That is my past and I live in freedom now and it’s the best I have felt in years!
Following Church teaching in every way provides freedom like no other freedom I have experienced.
There is good reason The Church teaches what it does and I encourage all of you to start reading The Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as church documents starting with The Documents of Vatican II. Pope Paul VI encyclical Humana Vitae written in 1968 was prophetic and a must read as is Pope Saint John Paul II Theology of The Body.
The mission of this blog is to promote the Virtue’s (there is that word again) of Chastity, Purity and Humility in every way in all human beings regardless of your creed, race and sexual orientation. If we all practiced and maintained these virtue’s in everything we do, War’s would cease! There would be no hatred, only LOVE! We would grow closer to God automatically because we would be more like Him. We would become Holier by default!
Matthew 17:17 starts with the words of Jesus – “You unbelieving and perverse generation…”; Luke 20:25 – “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God”; Matthew 19:8 – “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce…”; Romans 8:39 – “Nothing can separate us from the Love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord”; Matthew 16:26 – “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul”; Ephesians 6:12 – “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world…”
We don’t even give a God a thought. Are we aware there are 4 final truths? Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell! Where will you and I be for all eternity?!
People don’t want to think about this let alone discuss it. It has to be discussed, because whether you live 80 or 100 years, eternity will be a lot longer and where will you be? It will also change the way you live your life here. If you experience the risen Jesus like I did from March 18-22, 2015 while I was in the hospital recovering from a heart procedure and mild heart attack, then you have to change. But it’s so awesome I can’t even put words to it. The Jesus experience is ongoing as well. My life and yours is still unfolding. Embrace and listen to the quiet whisper of The Holy Spirit in your life on a daily basis. I was life-long in practicing my faith and considered a good person and even devout and knowledgeable in my faith, but I was “zapped” by The Holy Spirit on March 18, 2015 for good and for the good. Getting to receive the sacraments of Anointing of the sick, confession and Holy Communion in that hospital no doubt had much to do with my “conversion”. Conversion is also ongoing. I need help and so do you. We need Jesus first and foremost at the center of our lives, but we need the communion of saints including our faith filled friends here on this earth. It was finally, through the advice of a faith filled friend, my joining the AWC (Angelic Warfare Confraternity) that enabled me to break free from concupiscence (strong sexual desire; lust). I still experience temptation but it’s not as strong. I need a battle plan and so do you and the AWC provides it daily. I am vulnerable and have no chance against the wiles of the devil if I go it alone, but I am not alone, nor do I want to go it alone. I am free. As my friend Father Ugo said, Charlie, that is in your past. I also owe special thanks to Fr. Jim who has helped me and guided me in my spiritual direction for some 15 years now.
The Church is in the business of proclaiming The Gospel message or Good news that Jesus The Christ came to save mankind from death and destruction, and yes, He is all merciful. Are you merciful? Read Matthew 25: 31-46. Are you merciful? Do you see the face of Jesus in others? Especially the lowest of the low, and the most vulnerable, and are you sharing your time, talent and treasure. The Church is the most compassionate organization on the face of the earth because it cares about yours and mine eternal salvation regardless of your creed, race or sexual orientation or anything else about you. The Church prays for you daily, yet it gets vilified!
For what? Speaking the truth about God’s plan for salvation?
For who? All humanity!!!
The Church cares so much about you and me it wants us to accept Jesus and be saved!!! That is awesome and the team I want to play on!
Are you aware the Church has Rachel’s vineyard, a place for mothers or fathers suffering from the pain of abortion, to come for healing? What does Planned Parenthood do for the mother or father after they have an abortion? Nothing, except say if you need another abortion come back, we are here for you.
Are you aware the Church has an organization called Courage? This is a place and a group for those who are same-sex attracted to come for healing, for those same-sex attracted who want to live chaste and pure lives and live in communion with the church to get help and support.
The Church helps, the Church heals, the Church leads us to Jesus The Christ, The Church leads us and helps us to attain eternal salvation! How awesome is that!!!
Why does no one in the secular world or media say this? This is the truth, and the Truth will set you free.
Sexual sin of any kind is slavery, not freedom! Makes no difference whether you are heterosexual or homosexual, it kills your body and soul, forever. If you are not freely giving yourself to your spouse in the sacred sacrament of marriage between one man and one woman in every way, you are sinning, and I was sinning! Even in my marriage. Artificial birth control, even inside of marriage, used during sex is a grave sin! Please read Humana Vitae and Theology of The body. Are you aware that those married couples who practice Natural Family Planning (NFP) have a divorce rate of less than 2 %! Investigate NFP and please go to confession if you are practicing artificial contraception inside your marriage. And please never mutilate yourself in any way through sterilization or sex change operation; if you already have, please go to the sacrament of confession. If we confess our sins in the sacrament of confession we are forgiven for everything and anything. Jesus is all merciful if we confess, admit, repent and check our pride at the door. Total HUMILITY! TOTAL PURITY! TOTAL CHASTITY! You and I are forgiven for anything and everything if we willingly confess, admit our sin and beg for HIS MERCY!!! And offer up our prayers, sacrifices, pain, suffering in reparation for our sins, the sins of our family members and the sins of the world!
Get free, get chaste, get pure. NOW!!! “Our hearts will be restless until they rest in God”.
I have personally struggled with Concupiscience (strong sexual desire: lust) since about 11 years old. Many struggle with this to the point of addiction. Let’s not forget the devil, who is a fallen angel, hates mankind, because we are God’s creation, and the devil hates God. Jesus already won the victory over death and sin by and through the Cross and Resurrection, so the devil now can only attack mankind and drag down as many souls as possible, because God loves us so much, He gave us free will. He gave us the power to choose good or bad, right or wrong, death or life! That is how much God loves us! He could have made us robots to do good if He wanted to, but He gave us free will. The good news is we can choose HIM! Choose Him! Every day, wake up every day, hit your knees, prostrate yourself on the floor, facedown, under a crucifix in thanksgiving for what God has done!
What he has done is awesome. Pray, study, read! What are you reading right this very second?!
I am reading St. Augustine’s Confessions and The Church of Mercy, Pope Francis’ vision for The Church. In my spare time I read Church documents and Papal encyclicals. Are you poisoning your mind or enlightening with what you read, watch and listen to. Is it uplifting and encouraging or dark and discouraging?
This world we call Earth God made for us and gave to us is awesome and beautiful. We can make it heavenly if we take care of it! Start by taking care of your own body in every way and your own household in every way and then let your light shine from there.
I love and respect all. I wish only good for all, I wish eternal life for all, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand and ignore God and His Church’s teachings like they are wrong or meaningless for 2000 years!
I started this article with the question, what is Love, and I quoted what Love is from scripture. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is LOVE!!! Plain and simple. #LOVEWINS
Are you and I laying down our lives for our spouses, our families, friends, the world. It’s called in the Greek word Agape love, not Eros love, which seems to be the only kind of love this culture, country and world care about.
Be mature, be a man, be a woman, stand up, speak up for True Love, Agape Love, Christian Love. If Christianity never existed, the world would be in total chaos, way more than it is now. The world may not even have made it this far if Christianity never existed. Think about that. We should be defending the Church, our church, like warriors every day!
Let us all practice and live with and in the Love of Christ Jesus to all and for all! #LOVEWINS
Peace, Love, Truth and Mercy!!!
“Keep Walking”
Play Bocce
Charles DeFeo: Catholic Blogger and Useless Servant of Christ 