Blessed Mother Teresa once said: “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” Faithfulness is foundational in one’s following of Jesus Christ. Jesus hails those who are faithful to him. “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mk 8, 35)
Faithfulness occurs in stages. Its first dimension is search. The figure of Mary, the Mother of God, helps us understand what is meant by search. When the Angel told her about her election as the Mother of the Messiah, Mary asked: “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” (Lk 1, 34)
Genuine search paves the way for a serene reception. Mary moved from the quomodo fiet (How shall this be?) to fiat (Let it be done). In fact she replied: “Let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk 1, 38)
Accepting God’s will means living in accordance with one’s faith convictions; adjusting one’s life to what one adheres to. This consistency between belief and life embraces misunderstandings and persecutions. St Paul comprehended well the import of such a consistent faith living when he said in his Second letter to the Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Cor 4, 8-10)
Being consistent also means being able to endure the most dreading test of duration. In his book Inside the Vatican, Pope John Paul II writes: “It is easy to be consistent for a day or two. It is difficult and important to be consistent for one’s whole life. It is easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm. It is difficult to be so in the hour of tribulation.” Hence, constancy is the key for a committed Christian life as St Paul writes in his Second letter to Timothy: “If we endure, we shall also reign with him.” (2 Tim 2, 12)
Faithfulness to Christ has two basic sources: union with Jesus in the Eucharist and a consistent spirit of prayer. In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II confirmed the strength and comfort he experienced when he confided in the Eucharistic Christ: “It is pleasant to spend time with him, to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple (cf. Jn 13:25) and to feel the infinite love present in his heart. If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the “art of prayer”, how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? How often, dear brother and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support!” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 25) No wonder why St Alphonsus Liguori in Visite al SS. Sacramento e a Maria Santissima, said: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.”
An ongoing spirit of prayer is also a major aid to keep the flame of faithfulness alive and vibrant. St Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians, “pray constantly” (1 Thes 5, 17), makes us aware of the dire need of “pray[ing] [so] that [we] may not enter into temptation.” (Lk 22, 40)
Faithfulness helps us live the Easter Mystery with, in and through Jesus. We too undergo our passion, death and resurrection. Let us not forget that “if we have died with [Christ], we shall also live with him.” (2 Tim 2, 11) Since we do not know when our hour comes let us take to heart St Paul’s exhortation in his letter to the Romans in order that it may serve as a lamp for our feet in the dark hours when our faith is tested. “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14, 8). And it is precisely this belonging to the Lord that will earn for us the happy judgment we all would like to have at the end of our earthly life: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt 25, 21. 23)
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann