God's Fidelity

Homily for Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel proclaims that God remains faithful even when His people forget Him. Ezekiel speaks with stark honesty about Israel’s history—how the Lord found her abandoned, vulnerable, and unnoticed, and how He clothed her, adorned her, and made her His own. Yet she wandered. She forgot the One who had lifted her up.

And still, the Lord says, “I will remember my covenant with you… and you shall know that I am the Lord.” That promise is the hinge of the whole passage. God’s fidelity does not depend on our perfection; it flows from His own heart. He remembers us even when we forget Him. He restores us even when we have nothing left to offer. He begins again with us, not because we deserve it, but because He delights in mercy.

Isaiah takes that same truth and turns it into a song. “God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid.” The prophet invites us to draw water from the living springs of God’s compassion. Ezekiel shows us the covenant restored; Isaiah shows us the joy that follows.

On this Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, these readings feel especially fitting. Kolbe lived the covenant with a clarity that still astonishes. He knew the mercy of God so deeply that he could offer his life for another man in Auschwitz—not out of heroism, but out of love. He understood that God’s faithfulness is not an idea; it is a fire that reshapes the human heart.

Kolbe’s sacrifice was not a sudden impulse. It was the flowering of a lifetime spent trusting the Lord, a lifetime spent drawing water from the wells of salvation. His Marian devotion, his gentleness, his tireless service—all of it was rooted in the truth Ezekiel proclaims: God remembers His covenant. God restores. God renews.

For us, especially in religious life, these readings offer a quiet encouragement. We have all known moments when our love has cooled, when our prayer has thinned, when our strength has faltered. Yet the Lord does not withdraw. He does not tire of beginning again with us. He clothes us with mercy each morning. He invites us to sing Isaiah’s song even on the days when our voices feel small.

So today, in the spirit of St. Maximilian Kolbe, we might simply ask for the grace to trust the Lord’s fidelity more deeply. To let Him remember His covenant with us. To let Him restore what has grown weary. And to let our lives—quietly, steadily—become a hymn of thanksgiving: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He has done glorious deeds.”