Faithfulness

The seventh Fruit of the Spirit is Faithfulness.

Peace be with you on this Holy Thursday.

On the night he was betrayed, the faithful departed. 

His life was handed over. 

The faith of his followers was shaken. 

Faith was hiding behind fear. 

His followers were no where to be found. 

All but one of the apostles remained faithful.

The rest abandoned him. 

They abandoned him on a tree to die.  

Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

"But "abandonment to God" is actually rejecting emptiness and choosing abundance!"  

Philippians 2:6-8

In Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

Jesus emptied himself for you and for me.

Jesus chose us.

He continues to choose us, even when we too abandon him.

Tonight we remember the night he gave the greatest gift of all. The Institution of the Eucharist.

The gift of his entire self in the Eucharist. 

His body and blood, soul and divinity.

He asks us to receive this priceless gift. 

And before he dies on the cross Jesus gives us another gift. 

"Jesus offered to the world from the Cross His Mother, the star to look for in the storm." Chiara Corbella Petrillo A Witness to Joy 

Mary, his mother and ours, is the greatest example of faithfulness there is.

She did not abandon her son and she will not abandon you.

She is with us at the cross. 

Painting by Erin McAtee