Love Never Fails

4th Sunday In Ordinary Time
31 January 2010


We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.


First reading Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19
In the days of Josiah, the word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying:
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
before you came to birth I consecrated you;
I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.
‘So now brace yourself for action.
Stand up and tell them
all I command you.
Do not be dismayed at their presence,
or in their presence I will make you dismayed.
‘I, for my part, today will make you
into a fortified city,
a pillar of iron,
and a wall of bronze
to confront all this land:
the kings of Judah, its princes,
its priests and the country people.
They will fight against you
but shall not overcome you,
for I am with you to deliver you –
it is the Lord who speaks.’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 70:1-6,15,17

Second reading 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.
If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fulness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.
Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.
In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Gospel Luke 4:21-30
Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’
But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’ And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

Reflection
By Gharri Tulabut

Mahal kong anak,

Sa aking pagtanda unawain mo sana ako at pagpasensyahan.

Kapag dala ng kalabuan ng mata nakakabasag ako ng pinggan at nakakatapon ng sabaw sa hapag kainan, anak huwag mo naman akong kagagalitan. Maramdamin ang isang matanda. Nagse-self-pity ako tuwing sinisigawan mo ako.

Kapag mahina na ang tenga ko at hindi ko maintindihan ang sinasabi mo, huwag ka naman sanang magsabi ng “bingi”. Pakiulit na lang anak ang sinasabi mo o pakisulat na lang. Pasensya ka na anak ha, matanda na talaga ako.

Kapag mahina ang tuhod ko, pagtiyagaan mo sana akong tulungang tumayo katulad ng pag-alalay ko sa yo noong nag-aaral ka pang maglakad. Pasensya ka na kung minsan nagiging makulit, paulit-ulit, parang sirang plaka. Anak, pakinggan mo na lang ako at huwag ka sanang magsasawang ako’y pakinggan. Natatandaan mo ba nung bata ka pa, paulit-ulit mong ikinukwento ang tungkol sa iyong mga kaibigan, mga laruan.

Anak, pagpasensyahan mo na rin ang aking amoy. Amoy matanda, amoy lupa. Huwag mo sana akong piliting maligo. Mahina na ang katawan ko. At anak, pagpasensyahan mo na rin sana kung madalas ako’y masungit. Dala na rin marahil ito ng katandaan. Alam mo anak, pagtanda mo maiintindihan mo rin.

Kapag may konti kang panahon, magkwentuhan naman tayo anak kahit sandali lang. Please anak. Inip na inip na ko sa bahay, maghapong nag-iisa, walang kausap. Alam kong busy ka sa trabaho mo subalit nais kong malaman mo na sabik na sabik na akong maka kwentuhan ka kahit sandali lang, kahit hindi ka interesado sa mga kwento ko.

At kapag dumating na ang oras na ako’y magkasakit at maratay sa banig ng karamdaman, huwag mo sana akong pagsawaang alagaan. Pagpasensyahan mo na sana kung ako man ay maihi o madumi sa aking higaan. Pagtyagaan mo sana akong alagaan sa mga huling sandali ng aking buhay tutal hindi na naman ako magtatagal.

At kapag dumating na ang sandali ng aking pagpanaw, hawakan mo sana ang aking kamay at bigyan mo ako ng lakas ng loob na harapin ang kamatayan. At huwag kang mag-alala anak, kapag kaharap ko na ang Diyos na lumikha, ibubulong ko sa Kanya na pagpalain ka sana dahil naging mapagmahal ka sa iyong ama’t ina.

Nagmamahal,

Magulang

(Transcribed from Fr. Jerry Orbos' “Oh!Some Moments” CD)

Despite how good my stories are about my family in my previous articles, my dad and I rarely talked to each other. No, we don’t hate each other. It’s just that we don’t agree on most subject matter there is to talk about. May it be politics, money, sports, showbiz, or religion. Yes even religion. Or should I say, especially religion. (But that subject deserves an article of itself.) When I still worked in Cavite , whenever I come home to Pampanga, I just kiss his hands, chat a little, and that’s it. I face the computer again while they watched TV. He’s kapamilya and I’m kapuso (to add more to the things we disagree on :-( ).

So we just grew comfortable with that kind of set up until it came to a point when one time he wanted to ask me something. I was there, yet he relayed the question to my mom as if she were an interpreter. Just imagine my dad could not ask me a simple question like when I will be going back to Cavite !!! I told myself that was enough.

I had an uncle who was a bachelor his entire life. We, his nephews and nieces from his two sisters, were his family. He helped us in our everyday needs even with our schooling. He loved us so much. He was like a second father to us cousins. But I never had a chance to “talk” to him, cheer him up when he’s sad, or show how much I loved him before he died two years ago.

I just cry whenever I remember my uncle… just thinking how he longed to talk to me before he left this world… how he longed for the love of a son. I was numb. Apathetic.

I could not turn back the time. But I still have my parents to love. I don’t want to do the same mistakes I did to my uncle. Now I am still adjusting. Reconnecting. The preceding mail taught me how to love my parents now that they’re old. Just try to put our feet in their shoes and we will know how to love them. Or just try to ask “What would love do?” and we will never fail. Because true love never fails. This is true not only with our love to our parents but to any one else.

Lord, I thank You for my wonderful parents. Grant them more years filled with love and happiness. Amen!

Next week on God-speak
No Fear