This post could be my Pre-Valentine gift to you. ;o)
Yesterday's second reading was 1 Cor 12:31—13:13 Or 13:4-13
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues,
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And 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.
If 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.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
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.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When 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.
At 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.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
During communion we sang Ubi Caritas. The video below is of Connie Dover singing,
and it's my favorite!
Here are the words in Latin with the English translation from her website.
Ubi Caritas
Ubi caritas
et amor Deus ibi est
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor
Exsultemus
et in ipso jucundemur
Et ex corde
diligamus nos sincere
Ubi caritas
et amor Deus ibi est
Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur
Ne nos
mente dividamur caveamus
Cessent
jurgia maligna, cessent lites
Et in medio
nostri sit Christus Deus
Ubi caritas
et amor Deus ibi est
Simul
quoque cum beatis videamus
Glorianter
vultum tuum, Christe Deus
Gaudium quod
est immensum atque probum
Seacula per infinita saeculorum
Translation from Latin to English
Where love and loving-kindness are together, God is always
there
Since Christ's love has gathered us all together in one
company,
Let us rejoice and take delight in Him, now and forever,
Let us now without any reserve or deception love one
another.
Where love and loving-kindness are together, God is always
there,
Therefore, whenever we are together,
Let us not be divided from each other in our feelings;
Let spite, quarreling and strife cease among us, and may
Christ, who is God, be in our midst.
Where love and loving-kindness are together, God is always
there
Bring us, in the company of the blessed, to behold Your
great beauty,
To see Your face in glory, Christ our God,
There to possess heaven's peace and joy, Your truth and
love,
Happiness of immeasurable excellence,
Through unending ages of ages, world without end.
Words: Anonymous, ca.9th Century
Music composed and arranged by Connie Dover
From the CD, The Wishing Well, by Connie Dover © Taylor Park
Music
The text of this song dates from the 9th Century, and may be
found in Graduale Sacrosancte Romance Ecclesia de Tempore et de Sanctus, a
collection of Gregorian chants for the Roman Catholic Mass.
