Faithful

In a culture that often reduces love to a feeling, we have forgotten that love, by its nature, must be faithful. Who would want a friend that claimed they would only be a friend for as long as it suits them? Likewise, how can anyone really say "I love you" if that message is only for the moment or until the "feeling" wanes?
Fidelity is key to authentic love. The Holy Scriptures make it clear that God's love is faithful - that it "endures forever" as Psalm 136 repeats with such power. 

The prophet Hosea understood the central importance God's faithful love for us and the prophet mourned the infidelity of the people in their response. In his prophecy, he uses the image of an unfaithful spouse to both challenge the people to return and to remind them of the Lord's enduring care for them. Jesus' own prophetic words taken today from the Gospel of Matthew proclaim this same truth that love is no mere feeling, it can never be partial or passing, love engages the whole of us. And the love among people lives on the ground of Divine Love - a faithful. compassionate, life-giving love. Thanks be to God that He has given to His Church the gift of faithful couples who live that mystery in the sacrament of marriage. And thanks be to God that He invites all of us every day to live that love for others. The Lord is with us. The Lord loves us. The Lord will never abandon us. His love endures forever.