Love, love, love

It hasn't been a good day. Three of us sent off a paper to a tier one conference and .. mine was rejected. Not enough analysis. Didn't consider this or that. It's a bad idea. Sigh. And then I read the following from the Liturgy of the Hours (courtesy of Universalis), and then things aren't as bad as they seem, because they're not as important as they seem.

Mid-morning reading (Terce) 1 Corinthians 13:4 - 7 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. Noon reading (Sext) 1 Corinthians 13:8 - 13 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. In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love. Afternoon reading (None) Colossians 3:14 - 15 Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.

There were recent waves made about Blessed Mother Theresa having prolonged periods of doubt. Apart from the fact that some people simply do not understand sanctity, the journey of faith and dark nights of the soul -- which lifted towards the end -- they also conveniently ignore one unassailable truth about this mighty figure of our times: she was a bastion of love for the least loved. That can never be taken away from her, and by all accounts, that will never be overlooked by the God whom she served so well.

[Link to First Things article by Fr. Groeschel found via Intentional Disciples.]