February 3, 2013, Second Reading

The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians   12: 31-13:13

12:31 But be zealous for the better charisms. And I reveal to you a yet more excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13

13:1 If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal.
13:2 And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing.
13:3 And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing.
13:4 Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated.
13:5 Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil.
13:6 Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.
13:7 Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.
13:8 Charity is never torn away, even if prophecies pass away, or languages cease, or knowledge is destroyed.
13:9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part.
13:10 But when the perfect arrives, the imperfect passes away.
13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I put aside the things of a child.
13:12 Now we see through a glass darkly. But then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known.
13:13 But for now, these three continue: faith, hope, and charity. And the greatest of these is charity

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