Love is ...

I may be able to speak many languages, even the language of heaven itself, but if I am unloving, I am no more than a clanging gong or a crashing cymbal.

I may have the gift of prophecy, with a clear understanding of religious mysteries and of intellectual wisdom; I may be so full of faith that I can remove mountains but, if I am unloving, I am a complete nobody.

I may give all my possessions to the poor and sacrifice my body to be burned in the flames, but it will do me no good if I am unloving.

Love has a wonderful capacity to keep going. Love is kind. Love is not jealous, arrogant or boastful. Love is always appropriate. Love seeks nothing for itself. Love has a long fuse. Love never holds a grudge and takes no pleasure in any kind of wrong. Love finds its joy in truth and, whatever the circumstances, it remains protective, trusting and full of hope. Such love never lets anyone down ....

When I was a child, my speech, my thoughts and my reasoning were those of a child. But when I became an adult, I put childish things behind me....

To sum up - faith, hope and love are what really last, these three; and the greatest of them is love.

Extracts from I Corinthians 13
Translated by Alan Pain, BD, MPhil, MTh