valentine

¹⁴And above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection.

⁶Groom to Bride: Under the apple tree, I awakened you. There your mother was corrupted. There she who bore you was violated. ⁷Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm. For love is strong, like death, and envy is enduring, like hell: their lamps are made of fire and flames.

⁸But, before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves. For love covers a multitude of sins.

¹⁷Whoever is a friend loves at all times. And a brother is proved by distress.

¹⁸Three things are difficult for me, and about a fourth, I am nearly ignorant: ¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man in adolescence.

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.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and handed himself over for her,

¹⁶She answered, “Do not be against me, as if I would abandon you and go away; for wherever you will go, I will go, and where you will stay, I also will stay with you. Your people are my people, and your God is my God. ¹⁷Whichever land will receive you dying, in the same I will die, and there I will have the place of my burial. May God cause these things to happen to me, and add more also, if anything except death alone should separate you and I.”

⁷Most beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love, does not know God. For God is love. ⁹The love of God was made apparent to us in this way: that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love: not as if we had loved God, but that he first loved us, and so he sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Most beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

¹⁶My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollows of the wall, reveal to me your face. Let your voice sound in my ears. For your voice is sweet, and your face is graceful.

¹²Hatred rises up from disputes. And charity covers all offenses.

²with all humility and meekness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. ³Be anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit within the bonds of peace.

¹³No one has a greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.

⁹Let love be without falseness: hating evil, clinging to what is good, ¹⁰loving one another with fraternal charity, surpassing one another in honor:

²⁰Therefore, Jacob served for seven years for Rachel. And these seemed like only a few days, because of the greatness of love.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

¹⁸My little sons, let us not love in words only, but in works and in truth.

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. ⁷Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all. ⁸Charity is never torn away, even if prophecies pass away, or languages cease, or knowledge is destroyed.

¹⁴Let all that is yours be immersed in charity.