Lectio Tonight

Considering my love/hate relationship with St. Paul, I am so attracted to his works that it never surprises me sometimes to find myself quoting him when making statements of faith. An example, I have often said my faith is in "Christ, and him crucified...and resurrected."

So tonight when it came time for Lectio, I open up to I Corinthians Chapter 13, the great discourse on love. I've read this probably a thousand times, but tonight a little piece of verse 2 jumped out at me. "If I have faith to move mountains, but have not love, I have nothing at all." Of course the faith to move mountains comes directly from the mouth of Jesus, and it seemed so odd to me that Paul would use a direct quote of Jesus almost as a negative example!

Lectio being what it is, a slow, prayerful reading, remaining open to the movements of the Spirit, I stuck with that verse a long time. I pondered what contexts Jesus had made the statement, and it was in connection to casting out a demon "this kind takes a lot of prayer and faith." And the other was when he cursed the fig tree. Now, one assumes that anything Jesus did was motivated by love, and filled with love, so what could Paul possibly mean? If you have faith enough to move mountains how can you not have love, don't the two go together?

The next part of the chapter talks about how love is not rude, doesn't insist on its own way, not selfish, doesn't keep track of wrongs, etc. There was my Aha! moment. Using myself as an example, although I am not the only one guilty of this, I consider myself a man of faith, yet how often do I insist on my way, and how often am I rude? Now, is that not an example of faith without love?

The point here isn't to say I'm a bad person, because I don't believe I'm any worse than most; the point is to show that we who proclaim ourselves to have faith and yet show the lack of forgiveness, the holding of grudges, the sneering put downs, the rigidness of ALWAYS being right -- is showing faith without love.

All of us can think of those people who have faith, strong faith, but will hold a grudge for a lifetime. That is faith without love.

Pray for me that I never be one of those who has faith to move a mountain, but has not love.

And now, Poetry I did not write.
John Donne

A Litany

II.

THE SON.

O Son of God, who, seeing two things,
Sin and Death, crept in, which were never made,
By bearing one, tried'st with what stings
The other could Thine heritage invade ;
O be Thou nail'd unto my heart,
And crucified again ;
Part not from it, though it from Thee would part,
But let it be by applying so Thy pain,
Drown'd in Thy blood, and in Thy passion slain.