The wedding was an all day affair today. Lauren, the Bride, was stunning and elegant and her Groom was debonair. They looked like they had climbed out of the latest issue of BRIDE Magazine and made it in time for the picturesque wedding. Despite the multiple freeway closings that threatened to have every Kingwood resident traveling the hour drive to the West side of Houston for the ceremony arrive late, and the booming thunderclouds that rolled in just as we were just about to applaud the announcement of Mr. & Mrs. Shea, the wedding and reception went without a hitch. At least from a guest’s perspective. 🙂
I had the honor and privilege of reading the New Testament reading that you come to know by heart if you’ve been to at least more than one wedding.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
- If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
- I’ve read this same verse as a reader in weddings at least 4 times that I think each time I’ve evolved in understanding the true meaning of the first part of the verse. We all know and love ‘Love is patient, love is kind, etc etc’ and that tends to be the only thing we hear and take away from the verse. However, this is a shame if that is the case. Because what was happening in the context of when Paul was speaking to the Corinthians is very important. They were in the midst of becoming a Christian community, however, they were having a lot of ‘issues’, fighting amongst one another, unable to compromise on some issues in order to live in harmony. They were essentially becoming the first ‘hypocrits’. So Paul admonishes them and tells them (in my own paraphrase if I may…) “What are you doing? How can you be portraying Jesus, who IS LOVE, and get others to follow Him if you are spreading the good news but you are not able to love your own neighbor?” As the priest explained today in the wedding Mass he reminded us that we can have great faith, we can truly believe in Christ and the mysteries of God but if we don’t have love and act out with the love of Christ then we have nothing. That is why we as Catholics say we can not just have ‘faith’…we must have faith with love which brings forth the actions that love brings.
- Ironically, as we ended the evening my husband was getting quite antsy to leave. He did good by being there all day, I’ll give him that. However, there was a lot of ‘quick tempered’, ‘rude’ and impatient actions going on that I wanted to be like, “Hey buddy, did you hear the reading today?” ….but then I would’ve been ‘unkind’, ‘inflated’ and maybe a bit ‘pompous’… so I let it all go and said a few Hail Mary’s on the ride home till we were finally talking and on the same page again.
- Love endures all things…even when your husband is being a turkey! 😉
- Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Danny Shea!!
- Blessings
- Shannon
- Here are a few pictures taken from my iphone of Lauren and her dad dancing and Neal & I. I look big…not a good picture!!! And the dancing ones are blurry :(.
