Holy Nights
1 Corinthians 12:31- 13:13
Strive to make the best out
of the gifts of grace working together.
Yet I will show the way that
is higher than all others.
If I speak out of the Spirit
with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then my speaking
remains as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. And if I had the gift of prophecy
and could speak of all the mysteries and could impart all knowledge and,
further, had the power of faith that removes mountains, yet am without love,
then I am nothing. And if I were to give away everything that is mine, and
lastly were to give away even my body for burning, yet am without love, then
all is in vain.
Love
makes the soul great;
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| Sanz-Cardona |
Love
fills the soul with healing goodness;
Love
does not know envy;
It
knows no boasting;
It
does not allow falseness;
Love
does not harm that which is decent.
It
drives out self-seeking.
Love
does not allow inner balance to be lost.
It
does not bear a grudge.
It
does not rejoice over injustice.
It
rejoices only in the truth.
Love
bears all things,
Is
always prepared to have faithful trust.
It
may hope for everything and is all-patient.
If love is truly present, it
cannot be lost. The gift of prophecy will one day be extinguished, the wonder
of languages cease, clairvoyant insight come to an end. Our insight is
incomplete, incomplete is our prophecy.
But one day the perfect must
come, the complete consecration – aim; then the time of the incomplete is over.
When I was still a child, I
spoke as a child, and I felt and thought as a child. When I became a man, I put
childish ways behind me.
Now we still see things in
dark outlines, as in a mirror. Some day we will see everything face to face.
Now my insight is incomplete, but then I shall stand in the stream of true
insight, in which recognizing and being recognized are one.
We find permanence that bears
all future within it in the exalted triad:
In
faith
In
hope,
And
in love.
But the greatest of these is
love.
Holy Nights
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
In this part of the world we have the beautiful vista of the
sunrise over the mountains. At first the light silhouettes their dark
massiveness. But as it climbs higher, the light begins to illuminate them. When
it reaches its zenith, all is flooded with light and warmth.
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| Sanz-Cardona |
The human being is like a morning landscape. The solidity of
the body is a silhouette against the light of the spirit. But from a deep
memory of the body’s origins in realms of warmth and light, we can experience
the body’s hope of its future transformation, its future flooding with light.
The soul itself, too, dimly knows its own origins to be from
other realms. On earth it must experience the daily round of darkness and sleep
again and again. Yet because of the steadfastness of the sun’s daily rising and
setting, and rising again, the soul can have a deep trust and faith in its own
return to the light realms of its origins.
And buried deep between our souls and our bodies lies that
mysterious realm we call our life force. Of all our make-up, this part of us is
most directly connected to the sunlight itself. And like the sun, it is radiant
with light, a light that is warm and life-giving, a light that will ultimately
transform the whole landscape of our human constitution. For here, where life
illuminates soul, is where love dwells. Here, in the realm of the life force, lies
the possibility of developing a love that lives like the sun, which shines on
all alike; a love that, like the sun, radiates in steady balance; a love that
does not exist in order to illuminate itself.
Hope in the future
and faith in the progress of humanity
are two supports for the soul. But on top of these two supports is the living altar
of love. It is love that enlarges and
enlightens our soul. It is love that fills the soul with the light and warmth
of healing goodness. It is love that is our gift of offering to our fellow
human beings, our gift of offering to God.
The poet says:
It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth—
That men and women…
Who give each other
Light, …
Will sincerely speak, saying:
“My dear,
How can I be more loving to you’
How can I be more
Kind?”[1]
[1]
Hafiz, “It Happens All the Time in Heaven”, in Tonight the Subject is Love, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 45.
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