We hear the very rich, profound reading from the 13th Chapter of St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians today, a reading that is often heard at weddings, with its reflection on the different aspects of love. Paul states that we can have the faith to move a mountain or we can give away all we have in an act of charity, but if we do so without love in our hearts, then it is all meaningless. From what we know from Sacred Scripture, Paul, when he was Saul before his conversion, always had great faith, energy, and zeal. However, it was not until Paul was thrown off his horse and shaken up by the love of God that made him capable of fulfilling God’s will in his life. Until he gave his heart over to Christ, he was not “Paul” as we know him today, the great evangelizer and Church Father.
In his weekly general audience in February of 2013, Pope Benedict stated that the first chapter of Genesis reveals the fundamental truth about reality: that the world is not the result of chaos, but is born of and continually supported by God's love. The creation story shows that everything God creates is "beautiful and good, filled with wisdom and love; God's creative action brings order, leads to harmony and gives beauty.” When humanity rebelled against God and the harmony in nature, Christ was sent into the world so that we could return to this love. As we witness a lot of environmental destruction in the world today, we may wonder where all this is going, if we are truly following God’s will for us as the human race in harmony and unity with all of God’s creation. We are called back to the path that Christ forged he on earth. We are called back to the path of St Paul, to the love of Christ that so captured his soul. What do we have to do to get back on that path?
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