January 30. 4th Sunday C.  Love is patient, love is kind.” “Only Selfless Love, Jesus shows the way,” are some of the words of a special hymn song, one of thousands of songs of love composed over the centuries, most of us having our own favourites.  Some speak of human love and others acknowledge God who is love. Ideally a family begins with a marriage, where Jesus and the selfless love that he showed, form the most solid foundation.  St Paul in his hymn to love praises love above all other virtues and gifts, recognizing romantic love while also acknowledging that love can hurt but is also the source of healing of hurt inflicted by anyone including oneself.   Becoming an eco-friendly family:  How do we rate as a loving, eco-friendly family?       

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.    Faith, hope and love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love.   From 1 Cor 13:4-13.  Pope Francis. The experience of love in families is a perennial source of strength for the life of the Church. We cannot encourage a path of fidelity and mutual self-giving without encouraging the growth, strengthening and deepening of conjugal and family love. The grace of the sacrament of marriage is intended before all else to perfect couples’ love.  AL 88-89