Faith Is Not Enough!

‘Daisy A Day’ by Jude

The Greatest Love Of All

15 February – This is the pastoral text of Fr Reuter:

There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love. This line is from the New Testament; it is beautiful, uplifting, sublime.

As I read this, I realize I have never really understood what this means: ‘… and the greatest of these is love.’ Why is not faith the greatest? That would be faith in God, the almighty, a force greater than all men’s minds can fathom. Which reminds me of the Protestant dogma: Sola fide, or faith alone. Faith alone will save your soul, not good works. Faith works; works do not work for your salvation from damnation. This verse from the Bible is saying, no, faith is not enough.

I ask now: If not faith, why is not hope the greatest? It is said that all the poor have is hope, with or without faith. Remember, there are millions of poor; they must be right in putting their faith in hope, not in faith itself. But no, according to that Biblical verse.

Ah, love! Love is the greatest because if you have love, you automatically have faith and hope. What I mean by love is that which defies everything: Love your enemy. Do good to those who do bad to you. The ultimate love. Make love, not war. What is love if it is not the ultimate? If your love is not like that, it cannot be divine.

Biology aside and analogy beside, to me, Jude’s flower power of a photo captures what I think is the greatest love of all: The greatest love emanates from a center and radiates outward in all directions, touching all, touching everyone. It is not superficial; it is no simply linear: it has depth, width, breadth.

The greatest love shows itself to the sinners and the saints. Its rays fall on the good and the bad; it doesn’t offer itself more on one and less on the other – it offers as much. The greatest love exults on itself, exults on the loved one, the loved ones. The greatest love is as warm as the morning sun, as vibrant as the light at night. You know it’s alive.