love and relationships

¹If 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. ²And 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. ³And 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. ⁴Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated. ⁵Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil. ⁶Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, ²³meekness, faith, modesty, abstinence, chastity. There is no law against such things.

¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.

²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

⁹Let love be without falseness: hating evil, clinging to what is good, ¹⁰loving one another with fraternal charity, surpassing one another in honor: ¹¹in solicitude, not lazy; in spirit, fervent; serving the Lord;

⁸You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹For example: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not speak false testimony. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁰The love of neighbor does no harm. Therefore, love is the plenitude of the law.

³⁴I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also must you love one another. ³⁵By this, all shall recognize that you are my disciples: if you will have love for one another.”

¹⁸And Jacob, loving her, said, “I will serve you for seven years, for your younger daughter Rachel.” ¹⁹Laban responded, “It is better that I give her to you than to another man; remain with me.” ²⁰Therefore, Jacob served for seven years for Rachel. And these seemed like only a few days, because of the greatness of love.

⁵“For this reason, a man shall separate from father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife, and these two shall become one flesh.

⁴³You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and you shall have hatred for your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who persecute and slander you. ⁴⁵In this way, you shall be sons of your Father, who is in heaven. He causes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and he causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even tax collectors behave this way? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what more have you done? Do not even the pagans behave this way? ⁴⁸Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

³¹But the second is similar to it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night. ³And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper. ⁴Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore, the impious will not prevail again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.