ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (THE COOKIE THIEF) Luke 7:36-8:3

Today’s gospel reminds one of the story of the cookie thief. A woman at the airport waiting to catch her flight bought herself a bag of cookies, settled in a chair in the airport lounge and began to read her book. Suddenly she noticed the man beside her helping himself with cookies from the cookie bag between them. Not wanting to make a scene, she read on, ate cookies, and watched the clock. As the daring “cookie thief” kept on eating the cookies she got more irritated and said to herself, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blacken his eye!” With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. Then with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, and he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, “Oh brother, this guy has some nerve, and he’s also so rude, why, he didn’t even show any gratitude!” She sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look at the ungrateful “thief.” She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, then reached in her baggage to fetch her book, and what she saw made her gasp with surprise. For there in front of her eyes was her bag of cookies. Then it dawned on her that the cookies she ate in the lounge was the man’s and not hers, that the man was not a thief but a friend who tried to share, that she was the rude one, the ungrateful one, the thief.

The cookie thief story reminds us, as we see in today’s gospel, that it often happens that the one pointing the accusing finger turns out to be the guilty one, that the complainant sometimes turns out to be the offending party. In the cookie story, the woman believed she was such a wonderful person to put up with the rudeness and ingratitude of the man sitting beside her. In the end she discovered that she was the rude and ungrateful one and the man was wonderfully friendly. In the gospel the Pharisee thinks he is the righteous one who is worthy to be in the company of Jesus and that the woman was the sinful one, unworthy to be seen with Jesus. In the end Jesus showed each of them where they really belonged and the woman was seen as the one who was righteous and more deserving of the company of Jesus than the self-righteous Pharisee.

Why do things like this happen? Well, because it is easier to hear the other person than it is to hear yourself snoring. It is easy to notice the fault of other people while being blind to our own faults. Great men and women of God have been, all without exception, people who are so aware of their own inadequacies that they are hardly surprised at other people’s shortcomings. People who delight in criticising others betray their lack of self-awareness. In the end they discover that they themselves are indeed the cookie thieves that they accuse others to be.

But what was the mistake of the Pharisee? If the woman was indeed a prostitute where then did he err? After all, what he said about the woman was true, wasn’t it? Of course the woman was a sinner. Jesus did not say that the woman was not a sinner. Jesus only said that the man was a sinner too, and in fact a worse sinner than the woman.

I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love (Luke 7:44-47).

The problem of the Pharisee was his notion of sin and holiness. For him the woman was an “occasion of sin” to be avoided by godly people. Jesus corrects him: it is not what you avoid that counts, it is what you do. The Pharisee might indeed have avoided occasions of sin, but he did nothing for Jesus in need. The woman, on the other hand, attended to the practical needs of Jesus. Jesus accepts the woman’s external show of love as a clear manifestation of inner faith: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (verse 50). This practical engagement is the crucial difference between her and the Pharisee. How do we employ our faith in practical service of the needy?

Today’s gospel is good news indeed to all who have been humiliated by the “good people” of this world, humiliated in a supposed concern to maintain the standard of holiness in the household of God. Jesus assures them that they are indeed closer to the heart of God than their accusers have made them to believe. And to those who, like the Pharisee, feel that Jesus is their exclusive birthright, the Good News for them today is simple: Watch it, lest in the end you discover that it is you who are the cookie thief after all. And for the many people who are generous to share their prayers with me, I solicit for your prayers as I prepare to renew my religious vows on June 30th. 

STOP THE FUNERAL PROCESSION (10TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR)

The miracle of Jesus raising the widow’s son at Nain is often compared to that of Elijah raising the son of the widow of Zarephath, which we have in today’s first reading (I Kings 17:17-24). Yet there are some important differences between the two. Firstly, in Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son in Zarephath, it was the woman who took her problem to Elijah. So there was some kind of solicitation or prayer. In the case of Jesus raising the widow’s son at Nain, the woman did not approach Jesus and no one else did on her behalf. No form of prayer whatsoever was involved. Secondly, in Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son in Zarephath, the woman had earlier proven her faith in the God of Elijah when her jar of meal and jug of oil were miraculously replenished. In the case of the widow of Nain, there was no evidence of faith whatsoever. And thirdly, the widow in Zarephath had done some good deed to the man of God. She had fed him and housed him. The widow of Nain had done no such good deeds that we know of. It is, therefore, easy to see why Elijah should perform a miracle for the widow of Zarephath. But why did Jesus perform this miracle for the widow of Nain? The only plausible answer is that Jesus is simply being true to his nature as God, his nature to love unconditionally, especially those who are in most need of God’s mercy.

Life in Palestine at the time of Jesus was hard, especially for women. Social and economic life was male-dominated and women had to depend on their husbands as bread winners. When a woman’s husband dies, she becomes the responsibility of her grown up son. Without a man to provide for her, a women was reduced to the status of a beggar. Now you can understand why the dying Jesus had to entrust his mother to his friend, John. As an only son, he was fulfilling his duty to provide for his mother. Nobody in traditional Jewish society was more pitiable that a widow who had lost her only son. It was a double tragedy because she was invariable going to live out the rest of her days in abject poverty, sadness and misery. By inviting himself into the situation and turning it around, Jesus is making a statement that it is not God’s will for any human being to live in abject poverty and misery. Jesus is protesting against those societal norms, cultural practices and economic policies that discriminate against women on account of their gender. By reviving her son and giving him back to her, Jesus is re-empowering her and giving her back a reason to hold her head high in the community. Jesus is restoring to this woman her personal integrity, her honour and dignity, as well as her economic and social lifeline that had been taken away by death. As he himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Now, if God has unconditional love for all of His children and Jesus came to give us all life and joy in abundance, why is it that some people’s tears are wiped away but not those of others? Well, all of us are like people in a funeral procession. But how many of us would stand still when Jesus puts his hand on the coffin? Think of it. You know the emotions and commotions that go with a funeral procession. In fact, in many cultures, funeral processions are not supposed to stop for anybody. Other people have to stop to allow funeral processions through. But the widow of Nain cooperated in her miracle by stopping the funeral march when Jesus put his hand on the coffin and said to her, “Stop weeping” (Luke 7:11). Many of us in her shoes would shout at Jesus for interrupting our funeral song, push him aside, and continue our funeral march to the cemetery. If the woman of Nain did not stop the funeral procession, Jesus would not have been able to help her, much as he would love to.

Like the widow of Nain, everyone of us is bereft of something that would elevate us to our full dignity as children of God, physically, economically, socially and spiritually. Jesus does not like to see us live in misery and would like to turn our lives from sadness to joy. Today, Jesus asks us to halt the funeral procession and give him a chance to work his miracle of love in our lives. Shall we stop and be still before God and give God a chance to transform our lives? His word to us today is, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

The Heart full of mercy and Love (Sacred Heart of Jesus)

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  For many years I found devotion to the  Sacred Heart troublesome. The image of Jesus holding a heart on fire and surrounded by a crown of thorns did little  for my spirituality.  I was embarrassed because this is a central devotion for my as a member of the Sacred Heart Confraternity when I was growing up. Yet today I find myself drawn to the image of the Sacred Heart. Today's readings give solid scriptural depth  for the devotion. Interestingly, the liturgy uses  images of the Good Shepherd  from both Old and New Testaments to  "flesh out" the meaning of the Sacred Heart.In Ezekiel, the Good Shepherd brings back the scattered sheep: "I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. In good pastures I will pasture them. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up."In Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd walks with  the sheep even amid dangers: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He guides me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk in a dark valley I fear no evil for you are at my side."

In Luke, the Good Shepherd risks everything to rescue just one sheep: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?"

Assurance of God's unconditional love is the deepest need of human hearts. The Good Shepherd is the scriptural image of this assurance.  Miraculously through his appearances to a French nun - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) - Jesus himself gives the world the assurance of God's love by appearing to her as the Sacred Heart.  Could there be a more eloquent image!

A bit of personal advice. Are you stressed?  For myself the greatest antidote for relief in the midst of stress  is recalling Jesus' presence as the Sacred Heart  while breathing rhythmically my favorite mantra: "The Lord/Is my Shepherd/There is nothing/I shall want."  

It always works.

Do this in Memory of Me (Corpus Christi)

 What is the most precious gift that Jesus Christ gave to his church? I do not mean the gift of the Holy Spirit. I have in mind things that we can see and touch. Many people will say, “the Bible.” The Bible is indeed an invaluable gift of God, but Jesus did not write a Bible for the church nor did he commission his disciples to write one. The most precious gift that Jesus gave to his church is that which we celebrate today, the gift of his own body and blood in the form of bread and wine.

The short reading we have today from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is very important for Bible historians. This is because the words of Jesus in this passage are the earliest recorded words of Jesus that we have. We know that the words of Jesus are recorded in the gospels and other New Testament books. But Paul’s letters were written some twenty to fifty years before the gospels and theses other New Testaments books were written.

Paul begins by telling the people of Corinth that the tradition of celebrating the Lord’s supper is one that goes back to Jesus Christ himself. “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you” (1 Corinthians 11:23). Paul did not personally receive this tradition from the Lord, since he was not one of the twelve apostles present at the Last Supper. He received the tradition from those who were Christians before him, after his conversion to the Christian faith. Now he is handing on to the Corinthians the same tradition that he himself received. The only difference is that whereas up till the time of Paul the tradition was passed on by word of mouth, Paul was the first to put it down in writing because he could not be there physically with the Corinthians.

What is the tradition that Paul received and is now passing on? It is this:

that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

The night he was betrayed was the last night that Jesus spent with his disciples before his passion and death. In olden days, people did not write their wills. They spoke their wills, usually as their last words before death. What do these words of 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 tell us when we read them as the last words, the will and testament of Jesus?

First, the will of Jesus does not say a word about what Jesus taught. Its focus is on what Jesus did. He gave his body to his followers as food and his blood as drink. Remember, this was taking place in the context of the Passover meal. So Jesus was presenting himself as their Passover lamb. The Israelites in Egypt had to eat the flesh of the Passover lamb to identify themselves as God’s own people. They marked their doorposts with its blood as a sign to keep away the angel of death. Every Israelite was supposed to participate in this ritual every year to renew their identity as God’s people who enjoy God’s special blessings and protection. Seen in this light, the Eucharist becomes for us the place where we come to renew ourselves as God’s new people in Christ.

Second, the will speaks of a “new covenant.” In the Old Testament the people of God came into being through a covenant. By speaking of a new covenant Jesus is saying that a new people of God has come into being. In the sacrifice that seals the covenant Jesus is both the officiating priest and the lamb of sacrifice. We are just the beneficiaries of a life-giving grace. That is why the name “Eucharist” (“thanksgiving”) is so appropriate. Jesus did it all for us. All we have to do is receive it and give thanks.

Finally, the will of Jesus invites us to the banquet. “Do this in remembrance of me … Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (verses 24-25). Folks, this is the last thing Jesus asked us to do before he died. He asked to keep doing it as often as possible until his return in glory (verse 26). Why then is it that many of us take the Eucharist so lightly? We seem to be so ready to skip attending Mass at the slightest excuse: “I just didn’t feel like going … We were on vacation … I don’t like Pastor John’s preaching, I seem to get more from the TV service.” But no amount of television programming can take the place of holy communion. Let us today ask our Lord Jesus to increase our faith in the sacrament of his body and blood which he gives us in the form of bread and wine.

Trinity Sunday

Catholics are always used to making the sign of the Cross at the beginning of their liturgical activities and also at the end, and that is the invocation of the BLESSED TRINITY, God that Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Many of our protestant brothers and sisters have always had problems with that, questioning its origin in the Bible. To be able to understand this, let us look at this: The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, a great philosopher and theologian. He was preoccupied with the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. He wanted so much to understand the doctrine of one God in three persons and to be able to explain it logically. One day he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this matter. Suddenly, he saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a whole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup with sea water, ran up and emptied the cup into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. Augustine drew up and said to her, “Little child, what are you doing?”
She replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.”
“How do you think,” Augustine asked her, “that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?”
She answered back, “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that the child disappeared.
The doctrine of the inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in such a way that each of them is fully and equally God, yet there are not three Gods but one, cannot be fully comprehended by the human mind. It is a mystery.
If we expected today’s readings to give us a clear and elaborate presentation of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, we have found out that they simply do not. The doctrine of three persons in one God, equal in divinity yet distinct in personality, is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. In fact the very word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. Early Christians arrived at the doctrine when they applied their God-given reason to the revelation which they had received in faith. Jesus spoke about the Father who sent him (the Son) and about the Holy Spirit whom he was going to send. He said that the Father had given him (the Son) all that he has and that he in turn has given to the Holy Spirit all that he has received from the Father. In this we see the unity of purpose among the three persons of the Trinity.
In the story of salvation we usually attribute creation to the Father, redemption to the Son and sanctification to the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, though they are distinct as persons, neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit ever exists or acts in isolation from the other two persons of the Godhead.
Like Augustine we may not be able to understand the how of the Trinity but I think it is very important to understand the why. Why did God reveal to us this mystery regarding the very nature of the Supreme Being? The importance of this doctrine lies in this: we are made in the image of God, therefore, the more we understand God the more we understand ourselves. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the god they worship. People who worship a warrior god tend to be warmongering, people who worship a god of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a god of wrath tend to be vengeful, and people who worship a god of love tend to be loving. Like a god, so the worshippers. Therefore, the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be? On this, I have two points to share with you.
(1) God does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love and sharing. God is not a loner. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means permanent withdrawal to the Himalayas away from contact and involvement with people and society.
(2) True love requires three partners. You remember the old saying “Two is company, three is a crowd.” The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd. Taking an example from the human condition we see that when a man A is in love with a woman B they seal the loving by producing a baby C. Father, mother and child -- love when it perfected becomes a trinity.
We are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can be fully human only in a relationship of three partners. The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with others and a vertical relationship with God. In that way our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Then we discover that the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unbridled individualism which is acceptable in modern society leaves much to be desired. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt rather an I-and-God-and-neighbour principle. I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people. May the grace of the Holy Trinity help us to banish all traces of self-centeredness in our lives and to live in love of God and of neighbour.

The Circle with Love at the Center

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the way we Christians systematically account for the deepest meaning of human existence and systematically express our experience of the ultimate source of that meaning, which is the Triune God, disclosed through Jesus Christ and abidingly active as the instrument of reconciliation and unification in the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine invokes deep thoughts, which when followed logically; it is difficult or impossible to be totally comprehended. Faith is all we need to flow with it. Our approach to the doctrine of the Triune God should be more of description and application rather than definition and explanation.

There have been a lot of efforts in trying to explain the meaning of One God in three persons. Jesus Christ used the term “Father” in talking about the Creator God and “Son” in referring to himself who is the Redeemer God. In John 5:26, Jesus states "As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself." The Holy Spirit is always considered neutral. If we have to go by this interpretation, women will be wondering if they have a chance in this triune God, since none of these persons of the Blessed Trinity is said to be a woman; however, this is not about gender. Also how would children whose parents were divorced even before they could open their eyes to see who is around them and how their environment looked like? How can teenagers and young adults who never had any good experience with the men who should be their fathers, understand this explanation of the Trinity? This is where the description and application of the mystery of the Trinity comes. So let us do more of describing the Trinity God as relationship in the form of a Circle with Love at the Center. No matter from which point we approach the center, we still have the same distance to cover. The beginning and the end of the circle is not known. If any of the ‘persons’ detaches himself from the circle, everything will fall apart since the center cannot hold with a broken circle.

The solemnity we celebrate today will be more relevant to us if we apply the description of the Trinity as relationship in form of a Circle with Love at the Center to our entire existence. After thirty years of dating and twenty four of marriage, a couple wanted divorce because they felt that they were incompatible. They had three children out of their presumed incompatibility. The term of the divorce is that they will share everything the have equally. Inventory of everything they acquired during the years they were officially married was made and everything divided, with their families, friends and secret contenders present. After the division of their properties and everyone was about to depart, the spiritual Director who tried to no avail to dissuade them from taken that rout requested to make a point of order, and he was given a chance. He reminded the couple that there were still very important things they have not shared. Everyone wanted to know what those were; they priest called the three children (fruits of their “incompatible” love) to stand at the center of the circle, and they did. He asked each of the couple to take whatever he/she contributed in producing those children, and their divorce will be meaningful, total and recognized. This was amazing thought that kept everyone in a box. They could not do it; so they began to understand that “incompatibility” is not the issue but that at a stage in their relationship, they broke the circle that formed the love at the center.

Today as we celebrate this solemnity, let us think of the many children, teenagers and young adults who are suffering different kinds of mental, psychological and even physical torture and illnesses because the family that is supposed to be a relationship in form of a circle with love at the center was torn apart. What will happen if God divorces the world he created in love? Of course, we human beings that are the fruits of the love that God has for his creation will suffer like products of divorced marriages and dysfunctional families. But God will never abandon us or divorce his creation.

The same reasons why families and marriages break are also the causes of war, terror and all kinds of violence in our world. What are these reasons? Counterfeit love (love that does not want to get committed; love that is selfish and only sensual); pride and superiority complex; non forgiving spirit and revenge, belief in temporary things and deceptive powers; three uncompromising forces operating in one person (the body does not agree with the mind, and the mind quarrels with the spirit) thereby creating frustration and violence as consequences; and greedy, etc.

The solemnity of the Holy Trinity is a challenge to fix all our broken circles of relationship so that we could find love at the center. Our thoughts should agree with our words, and the actions we perform should confirm our words. The Trinity as a mystery of relationship of love teaches us never to put ourselves at the center to be worship or feared but to form part of the circle with love at the center: and God is love.

The Honorable Bird...at Pentecost

An Archbishop somewhere recalls the time when he was discussing Christianity with a learned Japanese writer. The writer told Bloom: “I think I understand about God the Father and the Son, but I can never understand the significance of the ‘Honorable Bird’.” The Holy Spirit has traditionally eluded the attention of scholars and preachers like a bird in flight resists capture. This bird-like Spirit flies higher than any airplane; it flies across vast expanse of lands and oceans; it could go down the valleys, along creeks and above the highest mountains. As it flies, it brings blessings, healing, new life and hope wherever it passes.

There are three great Jewish festivals to which every male Jew living within 20 miles of Jerusalem was legally bound to come, they are: the Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Pentecost means “The fiftieth”, and another name for it was “The Feast of Weeks.” It was so called because it fell on the fiftieth day, a week of weeks, after the Passover. The Passover fell in the middle of April; therefore Pentecost fell at the beginning of June. By that time, travelling conditions were at their best: at least as many came to the Feast of Pentecost as came to the Passover. That explains the roll of countries mentioned in this chapter; never was there a more international crowd in Jerusalem than at the time of Pentecost.

The time of Pentecost also happens at the time of harvest of grains, therefore its Old Testament name is Feast of the Harvest (Ex 23, 16); it is also called the “Day of the First Fruits” (Num 28, 26). So at the gathering of nations to celebrate the fruits of the earth, God poured out the fruits of heaven, the gifts of the Holy Spirit on his people. Is this not sending special message to us? Is God not saying to us, “As you enjoy the perishable fruits, open your hearts to fruits of imperishable values because the world needs them more than petroleum, gold, diamond, platinum, copper, silver and the rest of them?

Our language tells us that it is difficult to contain or even describe ‘Spirit’. However, spirit-talk suggests life, movement and energy. We talk of creative energy in inspiration; an energy which has the power to break though barriers, break through records, and go beyond the expected and the mediocre; the energy that breaks through the locked doors of convention and not be bound by any kind of restrictions.

This energy is manifested in creation, when it brought life out of nothing but by the Word of God. This Word of God is Jesus, the Christ, and the action of the Word is the Holy Spirit. He is that Breath of Life that came from God and made humans living beings (Gn 1, 1ff; 2, 18 – 26).

The same energy, the Spirit, also showed his presence and power in the form of Pillar of Fire and Cloud to protect and guide the pilgrim people of God as the march to freedom across the desert (Ex 14).

This energy is the Consuming Fire that ate up the sacrifice of Elijah, the prophet when he challenged the false prophets – those who hide under the cover of religion and spirituality to do evil and oppress others (Ikgs 17 and 18). The same Spirit lived in the prophets who spoke courageously against the social, moral and religious evils of their time. Mary, the virgin, was overshadowed by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, at the conception of Jesus (Lk 1, 18 ff). This “Honorable Bird” appeared again at the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan (Mt 3).

Now Fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a group of dispirited followers of Jesus had gathered and locked themselves in the upper room. There was more perspiration than inspiration in the room; there was fear and suspicion, and they listened attentively to every footstep on the stair-case; waiting for the executioners to knock at the door. They must have been praying that no one would discover their hiding place.

In contrast to their expectation, there came the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit as one who is cannot restricted by the boundaries and barriers erected by people. He is not halted by locked doors or locked hearts; he doesn't exclude himself from the restrictive areas that people settle in. When the Spirit comes, it will not be like Spring breeze that whispers unnoticed through a room; it is more like a hurricane that lays flat all the precious protection against its force. The Spirit takes this group of dispirited folks and fries them with new energy; enthusiasm and a new authority. The presence of the Holy Spirit makes the disciples open their lives to others. The Holy Spirit brings the following gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and the fear of God.

One interesting thing about the Pentecost is that all those who receive the different gifts of the Holy Spirit spoke the same message that was understood by everyone who gathered in Jerusalem from various cultures and nations of the world. The message is LOVE. It has the same sound, texture, effect and power in every person, culture, race and country. Paul in the second reading of today reminds the divided community of Christians in Corinth that their diverse gifts are for the good of the community. When love becomes the language we all speak, the powerful breathe of God will be felt by everyone at every time and place.