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Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Love Never Fails
Today’s reading is that beloved passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about love.
It speaks for itself.
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.1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Our Extravagant Creator
The extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation.
– Annie Dillard
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Let Us Handle One Another Delicately
Delicate Iris
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits,
can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.
-Henry David Thoreau
That being said,
we should be delicate with one another.
Walden
More on Being a Blessing
The more alert we become to the blessing that flows into us through everything we touch, the more our own touch will bring blessing.
– David Steindl-Rast
When We Feel Like Giving Up . . .
There are moments when I feel like giving up or giving in, but I soon rally again and do my duty as I see it: to keep the spark of life inside me ablaze.
– Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life
Weekly Photo Challenge: Love
We will hear the thoughts below later this week when 1 Corinthians 13 is quoted. Today we hear from Reinhold Niebuhr.
Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.
The Feast of Thomas Aquinas
Wonder is the desire of knowledge.
– St. Thomas Aquinas
Today is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was born in Naples in 1225, and became a Dominican Friar. Because of his studies, writing, and teaching he was named a Doctor of the Church in 1567. He has had a profound influence on Christian theology.
May My Eyes Remain Open to Wonder
I’ve read all the books but one
only remains sacred: this
volume of wonders, open
always before my eyes.
– Kathleen Raine
Wisdom from the Pueblo People
Hold on to what is good
even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe
even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
hold on to what you must do
even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life.
even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand
even when I have gone away from you.– Pueblo verse
And I am reminded of the passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:1: “Hold on to all that is good.”
A Simple Prayer
Eternal Spirit — Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver; source of all that is and that shall be; Father and Mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven. The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
– The New Zealand Prayer Book
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