God’s Fidelity
Forget yourself for the love of God and God will not forget you. (OCL, IV, 832, p. 71)
For St. Vincent, God is a faithful God because he is infinite love and mercy. The God who is infinitely loving and merciful will not be unfaithful. A person is unfaithful because he loses his interest in the one to whom he is called to be faithful. Again, a person takes recourse to an act of unfaithfulness towards another when being faithful becomes burdensome. But God who is Eternal Love, will not be unfaithful because he neither loses interest in his creatures, nor does the act of faithfulness become a burden for him. Since St. Vincent is totally convinced of the merciful love of God which makes him ever faithful to creatures, he was always ready to surrender himself to God in every situation. He tells his followers to forget themselves in the love of God because he will not forget them. As God is ever faithful and never forgets them in their needs, St Vincent asks his followers to cultivate a corresponding attitude towards God. A person’s faith in God’s fidelity should make him let go of every concern and care by handing it over to the one who can handle it in the best manner. Since he knows that God is always at his side despite his infidelities to him, a person becomes capable of accepting any situation that is uncertain and any circumstances that are challenging. For the fidelity of God is the foundation on which his whole life rests. St. Vincent lived out this attitude towards God on a daily basis, because he believed in God’s fidelity towards him.
Do I believe in God’s faithfulness to me? Do I acknowledge God’s infinite love and mercy for me? Do I respond to God’s faithfulness to me in a corresponding manner? Am I capable of accepting any situation that is uncertain? Am I ready to accept circumstances that are challenging? What difference does my belief in God’s fidelity bring about in my basic attitude towards my life?
O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. (Is. 25: 1)