This is a hard saying because it asks a hard question. Jesus shares a challenging teaching and a lot of his followers abandon him over it. It says in the gospel today they no longer went with him. And so Jesus looks at his closest disciples, and he asks them, "Will you also go away?" It's a great question for your faith, isn't it? It's a great question for your life. When the going gets tough, will you go away? Do we fall away? When a relationship is challenged, do you find a way to hang in there or to stick it out?
When your job's not going the way you want, do you stick to it or do you walk away? When a habit's not producing the results you would like, do you keep grinding it out, or do you give up, sleep in, and drop out? It's true for life. It's not always an easy journey. It's not an easy journey being Catholic either, is it? Following Jesus, having faith, and really trying to become the best version of yourself. I mean, we all have bad days, unexplainable things happen. We all have dry spells. Sometimes you're just not feeling it at all.
And we all have moments where we wonder, "God, are you really with me or not?" So today's gospel reminds us of a forgotten word, in many ways a very unpopular word. Faithfulness, also known as steadfastness or fidelity. You may know it’s cousins stick-to-it-ness and perseverance. Faithfulness is not the sexiest word around, is it?
It kind of reminds me of the struggle of our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters who are desperately trying to convince their bishop to keep their parishes open. No doubt pews are empty, sadly there are less priests and religious sisters to shepherd and nourish their faith. However, in the face of this turmoil, gossip, families are sticking close to their faith. In the middle of distractions of every kind, they are faithful to their role as parents, neighbors, parishioners, they are unsung saints.
Even when these families are facing the closing of their parish, they need
to be steadfast, to be defender, protector, faithful. They need a single-mindedness. They know what matters most, and they are even willing to sacrifice and be challenged by their leadership to do it. That's what faithfulness does. It keeps what matters most in the front of your mind. For you and me, being faithful usually means being heroic in ordinary things.
Faithfulness comes in different shapes, sizes, and ages
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are facing difficult decisions and hear Jesus asking them “ Will you also go away?” Give us the wisdom, the grace to stick to our faith, to persevere and to be faithful.
