© 2011 Michel Hubaut
© 2011 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| A marvelous assembly | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 56 — Autumn 2011 | The Universe and Nature, a mechanism of laws |
It is obvious that, in his Letters, Paul shows a constant concern about the quality of fraternal relationships within each community. Following the example of Christ himself who places “the love of God and others” at the heart of his teaching, Paul often repeats that love, lived concretely, summarizes and contains all the other precepts of the Christian life. For the entire law finds its fulfillment in this single word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Ga 5,14). Do not owe anyone anything, except that of mutual love. For he who loves another has fully fulfilled the Law. Love does no harm to his neighbor. Love is therefore the full fulfillment of the Law (Rm 13,8-10).
And in his “hymn to love”, he develops the characteristics and requirements of this love: “If I speak in tongues, that of men and that of angels, if I lack love, I am a resounding metal, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, the knowledge of all mysteries and all science, if I have the most complete faith, a faith that could move mountains, if I lack love, I am nothing. If I distribute all my goods to the hungry, if I deliver my body to the flames, if I lack love, it profits me nothing.”
“Love is patient, love is helpful, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not puffed up with pride. Love does nothing ugly, it does not seek its own interests, it is not irritated, it does not harbor a grudge. Love does not rejoice in injustice, but delights in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never disappears. Prophecies? They will disappear. Tongues? They will be silent. Knowledge? It will disappear. For our knowledge is limited and limited also our prophecy. But when perfection comes, what is limited will disappear. Now remain faith, hope and love, but love is greater. Pursue love; aspire also to the gifts of the Spirit_ (1 Cor 13,13).”
And, when Paul addresses his brothers in Corinth, tempted to give too much importance to the particular charisms of the gift of tongues or healing, he reminds them that the superior gift, which must be asked of the Lord and maintained, is the gift of mutual love. Christian perfection, holiness, is not located at the level of knowledge but of love lived on a daily basis.
The true barometer of our “spiritual” life is the quality of our fraternal relationships. There, we are no longer at the level of sensitivity, of spontaneous, natural sympathy, but of the will inhabited and animated by the Spirit who wants the good of all men.
“Love is patient.” The first characteristic of this love, animated by the Spirit, which opens and closes Paul’s enumeration is patience. In the Bible, patience is one of the attributes of the God of the Covenant. His mercy is a form of his patience. He is “slow to anger” towards the man with the “stiff neck”. He who is inhabited by spiritual love is a “good man”, he participates in the patient, tireless “goodness” of God.
“Love is of service.” To love another is to “put oneself at their service”, which goes beyond providing occasional “services”.
“Love is not jealous” of others. Jealousy is the opposite of wonder. To love others “is to rejoice in their happiness as if it were our own,” said Saint Francis of Assisi.
“Love does not boast, it is not puffed up with pride.” To be proud is to give in to this vain complacency which attributes to oneself the talents, the capacities that God has given us to put them at the service of others. This is the reason why Paul believes that humility is the sister of love. Humility which is neither morbid shyness nor underestimation of oneself but which is in the image of that of Christ. He, who wanted to be a “servant” of his brothers, without boasting of his powers or his titles, he who from divine condition did not jealously retain the rank which made him equal to God (Phil 2, 6-8).
“Love does nothing ugly or improper.” For Paul, the Christian refuses to return evil for evil (Rm 12,17), he prefers to overcome evil with good by giving food to his enemy if he is hungry, and drink if he is thirsty (Rm 12,20-21), blessing the one who insults him, consoling instead of slandering (I Cor 4,12-13). Behavior which goes against the law of the jungle of our societies and which is only possible if man acquires, in the Spirit, magnanimity, a certain “greatness of soul”.
“Love does not seek its own interests.” Paul places this characteristic at the center of his description. Is not Christ the incarnation of a God whose love is free, “gracious,” disinterested? Gratuity is at the heart of the Good News which reveals to us that in Christianity everything is Gift, everything is Grace.
This dimension of love seems so demanding that, later, copyists have, more or less consciously, attenuated its scope, by writing “Love does not seek what does not belong to it”, thus reducing love to strict justice. Now if the Christian also knows how to defend justice - Charity does no wrong to one’s neighbor (Rm 13,10) - he is also capable, if necessary, of renouncing his right, if he considers that, in a given situation, love is more important. Love puts others before its personal interests. Paul will also reproach his brothers in Corinth for suing each other! If this sometimes proves inevitable, such situations nevertheless show that the Christian ideal has not yet been achieved. For did not Christ, from being rich as he was, become poor in order to enrich us with his poverty (2 Cor 8,9)? This disinterested love is not selective but universal like the love of God which does not respect persons (Rm 2,11; Ga 2,6) and wants the salvation of all (1Tm 2,4). And if it is legitimate to have stronger bonds of friendship with this or that, the Christian must not forget the most unloved, the most humble (Rm 12,16) from whom he can expect nothing in return (1 Cor 4,12; Rm 12,20-21).
And if Christ asks us to love our enemies – as he himself did – it is undoubtedly because there is no more selfless love!
“Love is not provoked.” It does not act under the impulse of anger, of passion. Charity is capable of holding back unpleasant words.
“Love does not hold grudges.” Paul also writes: Let not the sun go down on our anger (Eph 4:26). Love does not cultivate the wound of memory.
“Love does not rejoice in injustice.” We can sometimes be tempted, in relation to someone who has hurt or wronged us, to take pleasure in seeing them, in turn, suffer an injustice, as a sort of savoured revenge, but love finds its joy in the truth. The Christian must know how to pay homage to the truth, including that of his enemies. Paul finally ends this hymn with four little traits: “Love excuses all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things.” “Love excuses all things.” Being lucid about the faults and weaknesses of others does not mean that we lock them up, once and for all, in what is negative in them. Every man is always more than his faults and his miseries. Love is especially careful not to judge intentions that God alone knows (1 Cor 4:5). Did not Christ say: “Do not judge (others) so as not to be judged (by God), for the measure you use will be used for you (Mt 7,1-12).”
(to be continued)
According to “In the footsteps of Saint Paul”, Historical and spiritual guide c/Desclée De Brouwer
Michel Hubaut
| A marvelous assembly | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 56 — Autumn 2011 | The Universe and Nature, a mechanism of laws |