Though
I speak with the tongues of men and angels,
And
have not love,
I
am no better than a clanging gong or brass bell.
And
though I have the gift of prophecy,
and
know every hidden mystery;
and
though I have faith enough to move mountains,
And
have not love,
I
am nothing.
And
Though I give away all I own to the poor,
and
offer my body to be burned,
And
have not Love,
I
do not gain a thing.
Love
is patient, love is kind,
Love
knows not jealousy,
Love
is never boastful,
nor
proud, nor unseemly.
Love
is not selfish nor easily provoked.
Love
knows nothing of wrong
and
does not rejoice at the misfortune of others.
It
only delights in the Truth.
There
is nothing love cannot bear,
no
limit to its faith, its hope, or its endurance.
The
reign of love will never end
But
where there are prophesies, they will end;
Where
there are tongues of ecstasy, they will end;
Where
there is knowledge, it will end.
For
our knowledge is only of a part,
and
our prophesies tell of but a part.
and
that which is a part vanishes
with
the arrival of the whole.
When
I was a child,
I
spoke as a child, I saw as a child,
and
I thought as a child.
When
I grew up, I put away childish things.
Now
we see everything through a murky glass,
but
one day we will see God clearly,
face
to face.
Now
my knowledge is incomplete,
one
day it will be perfect,
like
God's knowledge of me.
In
a word,
never
let go of these three things:
Faith,
hope and love.
And
know that the greatest of these
will
always be love.
Saint
Paul
