Paul addresses the Corinthian church's obsession with spiritual gifts — particularly tongues — by embedding the famous love chapter between two chapters on gifts. The message is architectural: love is not one gift among others; it is the medium in which all gifts either find meaning or become noise.

From the writers we read together

Mother Teresa

Missionary and Mystic, Calcutta

Teresa understood Paul's argument experientially. She saw missionaries who could teach brilliantly but treat the poor with condescension. She saw donors who gave generously but needed credit for it. Paul's list — tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith to move mountains, charity, martyrdom — covers the full range of impressive spiritual and moral performance. His verdict: without agapē, all of it is zero. Not diminished — zero.

Teresa's life was an argument for small things done with great love over impressive things done without it. The dying stranger bathed with dignity, the unnamed child fed without ceremony — these were her answer to 1 Corinthians 13. What impressive spiritual activity do you perform that might actually be noisy gong if examined for love? And what small act today could be done with the quality of love Paul describes?