The motto of the secondary school I went to was translated (in those days) as ‘seek the things that are above.’ I didn’t understand what that meant. It was never explained, only perhaps that we should be working at getting to heaven. It always seemed to me to be concerned with ambition, doing better, being a bit above others. Recently, I saw that motto translated as ‘set your minds on the higher gifts’ which comes from the prelude to St Paul’s great hymn to love written to the Christian community in Corinth (1 Cor 13).
