six::five

To be faithful to the other is to place one's life before the other with a full knowledge that the other may take it away. Or so it may seem. Such it is if one lives in relation to others without any concept of reciprocity, and instead with lesser forms of relationship in mind such as that of use or simple pleasure. Faithfulness among friends builds trust. Certainly, the element of vulnerability exists in any relationship, any striving towards a life of love and service together, yet one should be able to choose to make oneself vulnerable, and such is possible only with openness on the part of the other. I don't think my initial definition of faithfulness is at all correct. If anything, it is a lesser form of devotion, a sick kind of attachment that survives only when one is blinded to the image of God in oneself.

Who is it that deserves our full devotion? The One who whose devotion is seen throughout the Creation, lighting the darkness, giving breath even to trees and birds, and empowering and humbling the appointed caretakers. All sorts of Caesars, their images meticulously and brazenly placed all around us, ask us to give ourselves to them, taxing our last resources. Caesars are idols of power, of pleasure, of envy, of possession, of property. But it is only God that we can truly devote ourselves to; God promises fold upon fold back in return. Yet, we do not give to God in order to receive. We already have received in full. God has already practiced the fullness of kenosis, the fullness of emptying, in Christ. The Logos came into the world of the logoi, the Word that spoke among the words spoken. We logoi belong to the Logos not to other logoi that become Caesars and idols. In silent devotion, in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, then, we pray, which is to listen with the ears and eyes of our heart set at attention to the Word, the true Image of God. As we focus we learn faithfulness, and we will learn how to be rightly vulnerable, truly friendly, with full knowledge of ourselves and how we can and should relate to the other.

(Tobit 2:9-14, Psalm 122, Mark 12:13-17)