Daily Reflection
February 27, 1999

On this first Saturday in Lent, the readings all speak to the virtue of faithfulness. We are mandated “… to do these statutes and ordinances… with all your heart and with all your soul” in the reading from Deuteronomy. This reading emphasizes the covenant between God and God’s people. A covenant, the traditional Biblical meaning, is an unconditional agreement that includes command, promise and threat. Thus, a covenant begins with a gift - the love and faithfulness of God. It is a relationship based on grace. All human covenants are mere representations of the basic covenant between God and the faithful. A covenant is not dependent on performance or nonperformance of the parties involved. The key notions of covenant are promise and fidelity to promise.

The reading from Psalm 119 carries this theme of faithfulness and steadfastness forward. The psalmist speaks the words that we all carry in our hearts, “O forsake me not utterly!” God’s perfect faithfulness to us is sometimes reflected in our interactions with others. This reading, in particular, reminded me of a portion of a book Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg that deals with the death of a vibrant woman, Ruth. Her friends are present in a variety of ways during her struggle with breast cancer. As it becomes clear that Ruth will die, one of her friends reflects on how perseverance in the face of tragedy and loss may be the unique strength of women. She specifically thinks of Ruth’s mother,
 

Still, I know if Ruth’s mother were alive, she would handle this, draw from the reservoir of sacred strength that women are born with. She would wear clothes whose very smell comforted Ruth, she would put on an apron and make her soup and butter her toast and help her to walk to the bathroom when she needed it; and when things turned the worst, she would not leave. Women do not leave situations like this: we push up our sleeves, lean in closer, and say, “What do you need? Tell me what you need and by God I will do it.” I believe that the souls of women flatten and anchor themselves in times of adversity, lay in for the stay.
 The final reading from Matthew challenges us even beyond the faithfulness owed to those we love. Jesus speaks about a love that must go further than that involving those we love. He seems to be saying that loving those who love us is the easy part. We are called to do more. This last part makes me more mindful of how much I need God’s love because I often find it hard to “lay in for the stay” even with those I love deeply. Of course it is easier to love those who love us, but I do not think it is ever easy. Loving those who hate us and persecute us is even more difficult, if not impossible at times. Let us pray, women and men, for the virtue of fidelity and the ability to “… lean in closer and say, ‘What do you need? Tell me what you need and by God I will do it.’ ”