Semper Fidelis

Fidelity is often associated with human relationships. Oftentimes, it is spoken with such deliberateness and delicateness as it understood to be a test of a spouse’s ability to remain faithful and loyal to his or her partner. In this day and age where relationships are fast becoming distant, impersonal, fleeting and temporal, let us examine the deeper meaning of fidelity in the context of our faith.

Fidelity connotes a relationship founded and grounded on faith. Jesus who had complete faith in the Father accepted the eventual fate of his humanness. From the very moment Jesus felt the pain of Peter’s betrayal, to His silent agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, to His torment and humiliation in the streets of Jerusalem, to His dying breath – Jesus expressed his complete submissiveness to the will of the Father with these immortal words: “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing;” and “Unto your hands I commend my spirit.”

Jesus, human as He was, knew that His time was limited. He knew that He was not only to endure a suffering so great that no other man in history had ever experienced. He knew that He was to shed his blood and give up His life on the cross. But He did not balk. He did not retreat. Jesus did not flee. Jesus did not cower. Because He had faith. Because He was faithful to the Father’s will.

What about us? How often do we see, appreciate and accept God’s will in our lives? Everytime we open our palms and raise our arms heavenward and, with closed eyes, fervently intone the Lord’s Prayer, do we actually mean it in our heart and in our soul to have His “will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”?

Jesus gave His life for us to teach us to become faithful to the Father’s will. As we gaze at Him hanging down the cross, may we be given the grace of yearning to become… Semper Fidelis!

Always Faithful.