willed, loved, necessary

Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19; Ps 71 I will sing of your salvation; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30


"The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you..."


These are the words of the first reading today.  As I was pondering these words I could not help but recall words spoken by Pope Benedict XVI in his inaugural homily as the Vicar of Christ on earth.

On April 24, 2005, Pope Benedict spoke these words to begin his role as the Pope, Successor to Peter, Vicar of Christ: "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.  Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary..."


When is the last time you thought of yourself as willed, loved, necessary.

We are reminded as the LORD speaks to Jeremiah that in deed our existence though contingent is infinitely wrapped up in the love of God which not only calls us into existence but sustains us and assures of of existence.

We are willed, we are loved, we are necessary.

Each of us are important, because we are important to him.

This is truly worth thinking about often.

In today's second reading we are invited to dive into a deeper understanding of love.

We are presented with the beautiful hymn of love St. Paul gives to us, that very hymn that is often chosen to be read at weddings.  In fact, the wedding I performed just today included this reading:

"Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love is not jealous, it i snot pompous, it i snot inflated, it i snot rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrong doing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails..."

This is the heart of the passage.  What would the world look like if we tapped into this power of love?  How would our lives be different if this is the love we practiced?

Lets look at the positive attributes of love

Patient: long suffering...the willingness wot endure calmly difficulty, annoyance, pain
Kind: warm or well disposed to the other; gentle and gracious; it also suggest a thought toward the health of the other.  One who seeks that which ensures the best of health of the other is kind.  Doctors are kind in so far as they seek to restore the body to health.
Rejoices in the truth: Where do we find our joy or source of rejoicing?

It bears all, believes all, endures all...
St. Paul reminds us that love resides in the will.  This is where God's grace comes in to transform us.

The will's work is to love-to choose, to decide, to act.  This is sanctity.

St. Paul opens up to us the depth of love.  It cannot completely be defined but we can recognize it by its attributes: not jealous, not pompous, not not inflated, not rude, not quick-tempered, not brooding over injury, not rejoicing over wrong doing....

We should examine our life.  Where is love seeking to sprout forth?  Where have we refused it entrance into out lives?

SImply put love is to will the good of the other for the sake of the other; it is outward not inward.