June 10, 2026

Fr. John Riccardo

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

We just returned from a glorious pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul. For those who’ve not had the opportunity to travel in these sacred places, it is a challenge to say the least. In fact, unless you own your own plane and boat, it’s simply not possible to hit all the places where Paul traveled and preached. Paul covered between 10,000 and 14,000 miles over the course of at least three missionary journeys. That’s the equivalent of traversing the United States three times. And he did it all either by foot or by sea — in a time when close to half of those who traveled the oceans died. Suffice to say, we weren’t able to get to all of the places where Paul preached the gospel and established Churches, nor did we travel in quite the same circumstances as he did.

That said, we were able to visit Thessaloniki, Berea, Philippi, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Rhodes, and Crete, plus a few other places where Paul didn’t go, especially Patmos, where John received the visions that we know of as the Book of Revelation. Like the rest of the pilgrims who made the trek, I’ll be unpacking the graces we received for many months to come.

Our last day all together was in Corinth. Like many of the places we visited, there is no Catholic Church there, so we celebrated Mass outside. We found a spot just yards away from the bema, where Paul would have stood before the proconsul Gallio in the year 51 or 52. This seemed a most fitting place to end our time together. Paul spent some 18 months in Corinth (cf. Acts 18). This was the city where he first met Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple who might just have been his best friends. They shared a common trade — tentmakers — and it appears Paul lived with them there. This couple also shows up in the Churches in Ephesus and in Rome. Paul goes out of his way in Romans to say that they risked their necks for him (cf. Rom 16:4). Of all of Paul’s letters, the longest are the two he wrote to the Church in Corinth. These contain the earliest account of the institution of the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-26); the fullest account of the resurrection (cf. 1 Cor 15); the importance of both unity and holiness in the community; the diversity of spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Cor 12:1-11); and so much more.

Most especially, though, it is to this Church that Paul writes his famous words on love (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-13). This passage, perhaps more than any other in the New Testament, is overly familiar. Many of us have heard these words almost ad nauseum at countless weddings. Standing there amidst the ruins of this place Paul once called home, they became wondrously fresh. The English translation fails to catch the power of Paul’s words. For example, in verses 4-8, our language cannot do what Greek can. The Greek translation would literally read something like, “Love patients…” — meaning it is a verb. And so on with the other traits Paul says love both has and doesn’t have. In other words, love does things — and doesn’t do other things.

Two traits that Paul lists especially stood out for me that day: love is not resentful and love bears all things (cf. 1 Cor 13:4,7). To say that love is not resentful is to say it doesn’t harbor grudges, keep score, or continually mull over the harmful things another has done or said to us. What a challenge this is for most of us — it certainly is for me! God, who is Love, doesn’t do this with us, blessed be He! And we are empowered by His Holy Spirit within us to do the same with regards to others.

When Paul writes that love bears all things he means that love “hides”, or “keeps confidential” certain things about others. George Montague, in his excellent commentary on this letter, offers a more poetic translation: “Love throws a cloak of silence over what is displeasing in another person.” Uh…this isn’t exactly what I do. Far too often, to my shame, I speak about and expose the things that are displeasing in others. And yet, Paul says we are not to do this. Once again, what an extraordinary thing that God doesn’t do this about us — can you imagine?!

That day, standing there with the other pilgrims, looking at the various remnants of this once proud and significant city, I was led to reflect on the fact that few things have the capacity to make us stand out as disciples of Jesus in our day as noticeably as how we speak (or email, post or text) about others. There, listening anew to Paul’s words to that Church, and to us, we were invited anew to ask the Lord to help us use the wondrous gift of speech to build up, and not destroy, and in the process to attractively invite others into this fellowship we share with the loving God and with one another. With the Solemnity of Corpus Christi behind us, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus two days away, let us beg our Lord to help us love better, especially in how we speak.

Just Love

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