Sept 20 2006

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, priest and martyr, and Saint Paul Chong Hasang, martyr, and their companions, martyrs


1 Cor 12:31-13:13 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, love 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.

Ps 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORDon the harp;with the ten.stringed lyre chant his praises.Sing to him a new song;pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,and all his works are trustworthy.He loves justice and right;of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.May your kindness, O LORD, be upon uswho have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Lk 7:31-35 Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep. ’For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

The first reading especially stands out to me this morning. God is not clearly seen by me as an adult. It is like seeing through a glass darkly. I only see partially. When I go to heaven, I will see fully. Faith, hope and love are what are of importance with love the most important.

Faith is a following and believing what is not yet seen in my view. The law of love to love God and love others is the greatest law of all and I remind myself of this daily. Sometimes when things are not clear it is important to remember the most simple of things.

I believe that part of being a child is being led and cared for but I also believe that all children are closer to God than adults. Somehow I think we grow more worldly and on our own more distant from God than as a child. The wonder, the joy, the innocent acceptance of the miraculous and the willingness to believe the unbelievable are part of childhood.

As a child, I would stare at the full length window in the back of our little church of Jesus the shepherd carrying a young lamb in his arms and another on his shoulders. Jesus looked young and strong and loving. He easily and gently carried the lambs. His eyes were large and brown and welcoming and loving. My small church was a place where families gathered and had picnics and stayed on sundays talking with each other. The families all knew each other and all the children at a certain age were in the choir together whether you could sing well or not. The all are welcome and loved feeling of faith started in my early years in my church. I loved to read my own Bible and spent hours reading it over and over from an early age. For me faith is going to Jesus not alone but together with loved ones, in community. God is loving and compassionate and welcomes all.