SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, PRIEST AND MARTYR (MEMORIAL)

I will remember the covenant I made with you. 

Ezekiel’s prophecy compares Israel to a beautiful woman who has betrayed the one who rescued and saved her.   What a stark and painful reminder to the Israelites of just how far they had strayed from God!

And yet despite the unfaithfulness of Israel, God remains faithful.   Although he has permitted his people to experience the consequences of their betrayal, he will not withdraw his covenant from them.   In fact, he tells them, “I will set up an everlasting covenant with you” (Ezekiel 16:60).   As Ezekiel prophesies later in this book, God will provide restoration for his beloved people (chapter 36) and become the shepherd who leads and cares for them (34:15).

God is always faithful—that’s just who he is. He calls us to faithfulness as well because he knows that it provides the stability and constancy we need for our relationships to flourish.   When we know that we can trust someone no matter what, we are more willing to be vulnerable with that person and open our hearts to him or her.   And that’s how love and intimacy grow: through deeper knowledge of one another.

This is especially true in our relationship with the Lord.   God is faithful to us, and we can express our faithfulness to him through regular, planned time with him each day.   This gives God the space and opportunity to reveal himself to us.   It gives him the chance to tell us what’s on his heart, and it helps us open more of our hearts to him.

In a similar way, God calls us to be faithful in loving and caring for the people he puts in our lives.   When we care for our loved ones, even in the midst of their flaws and failures, we are mirroring God’s faithfulness to us.   Our bond of trust grows deeper and stronger, and it helps us to reveal more of ourselves to each other.

Ezekiel couldn’t have painted a more graphic picture of his people’s unfaithfulness to God.   And that’s what makes God’s response so amazing.   He will not abandon his people, ever!   May he give us the grace, day by day, to be as faithful as he is.

“Father, I praise you for your unending faithfulness to me.”

(Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 19:3-12