Beloved, don't be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

 (i) It may mean that our love can overlook many sins. "Love covers all offences," says the writer of the Proverbs ( Proverbs 10:12). If we love a person, it is easy to forgive. It is not that love is blind, but that it loves a person just as he is. Love makes patience easy. It is much easier to be patient with our own children than with the children of strangers. If we really love our fellow-men, we can accept their faults, and bear with their foolishness, and even endure their unkindness. Love indeed can cover a multitude of sins. 