DotMagis: Love is patient and kind, but am I?

Not the St. John's Bible by any means...

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. 1 Cor 13:4-6

St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians.  It was proclaimed when I married Tom, and again when I married Victor.  It was hardly a novel choice.  But what happens when I hear it at a funeral? I hear hard questions, not a poetic description — however powerful.

"Have I been patient? kind?
Was I jealous, pompous, or self-important?"

Read the whole reflection at Ignatian Spirituality's DotMagis blog.

...but in my own hand nonetheless

It was interesting to be reminded of the other readings we chose. From Matthew's Gospel  - the call to be salt of the earth and light for the world.  From the Song of Songs,  set me as a seal upon your heart. And Psalm 30, the psalm that ran through my head all night when Tom was dying.  Then the line that I held close was at night weeping enters in, but with the dawn joy, but for this day, you have changed my mourning into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.  A bridge between two lives, an acknowledgement of the mystery that I would not willingly have given up the first for the second, nor now, forgone the second to have clung to the first.