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When King Saul was trying to take the life of David, his son Jonathan pledged to protect his friend, and warn him of what his father was planning to do. In return Jonathan asked David to promise to “show me unfailing kindness like that of the Lord as long as I live,...
LOVE IS PATIENT
Driving home over the Amelia River bridge after a thunderstorm, the sun caught the clouds and threw a beautiful rainbow that stretched over the estuary where the river met the Atlantic Ocean. It was a spectacular sight that never ceased to thrill me. Just as white...
FREEDOM
Signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. (John Trumbull) Freedom, independence and liberty refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one’s rights and powers. Freedom emphasizes opportunity. Independence implies the...
LOVELESS SACRIFICE
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3) God’s love is...
WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP MANTRA
Inscribed above the players' entrance to the Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club known as Wimbledon are the third and fourth lines of the second stanza of Rudyard Kipling's poem IF. The poem also hangs on the wall beside my chair! It...
A YOUNG MAN’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Whatever your opinion of JD Vance, his spiritual memoir COMMUNION, Finding my Way Back to Faith, is to my mind, an honest and humble description of his personal journey. I read several reviews of the book before I decided to read it. They were universally critical and...
LOVELESS PROPHECY AND FAITH
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2) Prophecy is one of the highest spiritual gifts. St. Paul says that we are to...
LOVELESS LANGUAGE
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1) What is the characteristic of speech without love? St. Paul confronted groups of people in the church in Corinth who valued...
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR?
The word ‘love’ has an elusive quality. It can stand for romance (I love my wife), for passion (I love philosophy and tennis), for friendship (I love particular acquaintances), for desire (I love food or books), for appreciation (I love nature, art and music), for...
LOVE IS BLIND TO DISTINCTIONS
When Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and illustrates it by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan, he is saying that we are to love everybody according to their need. There are no exceptions to this command. In contrast to romantic love or...
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