A famous poet once wrote the following lines:
“See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?”
As we continue our series on falling in love with Jesus, I think it’s essential to think of love and poetry. Today’s first reading may be one of the most beautiful love songs ever written in any literary genre. “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.” Both of these poetic expressions of love remind us that love is not a one-way street. It requires effort on the part of both people to make it work. We each have to examine ourselves and our attitudes to see if we love fully and completely. Am I patient? Am I kind? Am I rude? Do I seek my own interests?
Today we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian. It’s essential to look at the lives of Saints and see how they loved Him, so we can try to love Him more fully. Saint Fabian, the previous Pope, died a martyr’s death during a period of intense persecution. This death left the Church without a Pope for fourteen months. After Cornelius was elected Pope, and During his two-year reign, one of the most critical questions they debated involved the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What do we do with Christians who renounced their faith during the persecution? Remember, Decius, the Emperor of Rome, had murdered even the previous Pope. Many people had denied their religion to save themselves from the same fate.
Saint Cyprian wrote a letter to his friend in Rome to confirm the stance that the bishop’s decision could reconcile those who had relapsed. While this seems unkind to our modern ears, the other common perspective at the time was to deny that the Church had any power to reconcile not only the apostates, but also those guilty of murder, adultery, fornication, or second marriage! In the end, the view of Saint Cyprian won out. I think it’s a powerful reminder for us today. As we remember to try and see Jesus in every person, which of those shows the Love and mercy of His Sacred Heart? God wants to forgive our sins when we genuinely repent. Repenting means we are sorrowful for what we have done.
Why should we be sorrowful? If we truly love someone, we won’t hurt them. We also care about what is important to them. Even when we have no interest in their passions, we will listen and care because they care. What is important is being present to the one you love. It also means forgiving those who have wronged us. As Catholics, we believe that it is Jesus Christ who forgives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We also believe that our life’s goal is to grow to be more like Him. This purpose means we are to be people who forgive. We say those words often without thinking about it; forgive us as we forgive. That’s what Love is.
Saints Cyprian and Cornelius stood up for what was right and fought for a world where every person could be loved and forgiven by Jesus. We should do the same. Each of us must find our “they,” our “them.” We must remind ourselves daily that to love Jesus means to love every single part of His body, not just the one like ourselves. The Psalm reminds us that we are to be people that seek justice for them, and Saint Paul reminds us, in the end, faith, hope, and love will remain, and the greatest of these is love.
So we try to grow in love. Like Shelley, we try to make our hearts cry out for Jesus as the mountains cry out for the waves. While the Apostle reminds us that we only see as if through a veil or in a mirror, we strive for glimpses of Him in the here and the now. In the distressing guise of the poor and the stranger’s face, we long for just a brush of His presence to peek through. Our soul, like the earth, seeks the warmth of His rays, and like the depths of the sea, our heart cries out for the moonlight’s gentle stroke. Till in our hearts, only faith, hope, and love might remain, and the greatest of these is love.
A reflection on the readings for the Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs: September 16, 2020