Lent 2026 - Reading #45 - Love (Charity)
Reading
The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians the most famous passage on love in all of Scripture: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Paul continues: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a). And Paul's conclusion: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). In this single verse, the entire hierarchy of virtues that we have been exploring throughout Lent finds its definitive expression: love is the greatest.
Reflection
Wednesday of Holy Week. Forty-seven days of Lent, and Paul sets the crown upon the entire journey. Faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest is love. Every virtue we have cultivated, every reading we have pondered, every discipline we have practiced has been leading to this single point: without love, it is all nothing. Read Paul's description of love carefully, and you will hear echoes of every virtue we have explored. "Love is patient", there is fortitude. "Love is kind", there is justice and mercy. "Love does not insist on its own way", there is temperance. "Love rejoices with the truth", there is prudence. "Love believes all things, hopes all things", there are faith and hope. Love does not replace the other virtues; it contains them all. It is the one virtue that, if you possessed it perfectly, would make every other virtue unnecessary to name, because they would all be present implicitly. As we move deeper into Holy Week, Paul's words become more than a beautiful poem, they become a portrait of Christ. Who is patient and kind, not arrogant or rude, not insisting on his own way, bearing all things, enduring all things? This is Jesus, walking toward the cross. Tomorrow is Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, the night of betrayal, the night when love was broken and poured out like wine. Everything we have been preparing for arrives tomorrow.