1 Corinthians 13/Ep 6: Love always protects, hopes, trusts, perseveres. Love never fails

This is part of an extended series "1 Corinthians 13 - Discovering the Father's Love" as we journey towards Valentine's Day. Stay tuned for reflections on the beautiful verse as we meditate on the nature of love.

At this time of the year, it’s easy for us to pine for a sense of closeness as we see the people around us rejoice in the beauty of their romantic relationships. It is easy for us to feel envious and to doubt His will for our lives, wondering “God, do you really love me?”. We live in a culture which fears commitment and devotion, we would rather be free agents without setting down our “roots”. I recently saw a thread on Facebook that described how some people are scared of the idea of marriage and view it as a “nail in the coffin”. They viewed marriage as being “tied down” and a total loss of freedom. It saddened me to realise that this is what marriage has been reduced to. This commitment of the self to another, till death do us part, has become a prison sentence! Then in the first place, was the love freely given? Or were we coerced somewhere along the way? Then there is the notorious “hook-up” culture that seems to plague this generation. When did we trade a deep emotional connection for the momentary “feel-good”? In Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul, written by the couple John and Stasi Eldredge, I was intrigued about the role of man and woman, as described in the Fall. In the familiar biblical story, Eve eats of the forbidden fruit after she is tempted by the snake. What surprised me was how Adam responded. He did nothing, and in this way his passivity paved the path to the Fall. The masculinity that could either turn aggressive or passive had become passive in the face of temptation. It made me consider the deeper meaning of the final verse of 1 Corinthians 13. We yearn for someone who will “come through” for us in our difficult moments, to guard us against spiritual attack, to pray with us and for us, to demonstrate love through small acts that may seem to pale with the big displays we see on Instagram. Indeed where is the love that always protects, always perseveres and never fails? Perhaps we have been disappointed before with human relationships, for are they not imperfect models of the perfect love of the Father? The ache that we feel internally can only be filled by the Father’s love. A love that is constant and unchanging from day to day, a love that will not fade away. A Father that desires for an intimate relationship with us. As Bishop Robert Barron highlighted in his video on a personal relationship with the Father, he notes that “Thou” is a more intimate form of the language compared to “you” as it indicates a greater degree of closeness. St Catherine of Siena herself enjoyed a deeply personal relationship with Him and a spiritual connection in which she frequently had direct exchanges with Jesus and our Blessed Lady. Instead of praying the Our Father as “thy will be done”, she lovingly intoned “your will be done”. Perhaps you are also yearning from this closeness and are aching for a love that goes deeper. Love like that does exist, sometimes we are less attuned to its presence. Indeed, we ladies desire to be romanced, to be pursued, but sometimes in our desire for “the relationship”, we have lost sight of the One who has loved us all along. The love that protects us, for did He not say He would be our shelter from the storm? The love that always perseveres, a tireless love that does not fade, but grows stronger as we turn to seek Him every more deeply? The love that never fails, for did He not “come through” for us, in our darkest moments? This Valentine’s Day, I pray that you will rediscover His love for you. He desires for you to find Him again, in the vast depth, He desires for you to love again.