Abraham was brought into a covenant with God. What is a covenant? A covenant is a relationship between two people, but it is much more than a relationship. It is a relationship based on a commitment. We have relationships with so many people. We have relationships with the person we buy our gas from. We have a relationship with the check out person in the supermarket or the person at the meat counter. But we don’t have a commitment to them. We don’t have a commitment to the person at the gas station. You just go there. You pump your gas. You swipe your card or go to the booth or, rarely today, they come to your car and pump your gas for you. But you don’t have a commitment to that person. If you can find gas cheaper somewhere else, you are going to drive down the street to pay five cents less. You don’t have a commitment.

But covenant means that we have a union, a relationship that is a commitment. It means that you are living in union with that person. You have a desire for an intimate relationship.  A commitment means much more than friendship or relationship. It means that you enter into a dialog where you enter into an intercourse with that person. The greatest covenant that is a sign of that covenant we have with God is Christian marriage. If there is a valid union, it is unbreakable. It is until death do us part.

With us, our covenant with God is eternal. Abraham had a name change as the result of the covenant with God. So on the day of our baptism we are given a name that is a sign of that covenant, of that relationship with God. It is a covenant with God and it is for all eternity. It is unbreakable. Regardless of where we go, God is with us. Regardless of whether we are faithful, God is faithful. And that is what we are celebrating during Holy Week. God gives a new and everlasting covenant in His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ Who died on the cross for our salvation. We celebrate that every day in our Eucharistic liturgy in an unbloody manner. The covenant is made present because the Lamb is sacrificed. And you and I eat His flesh and partake of that sacrifice. So we renew that covenant with God. We say “yes” each and every time we receive Him and we ask Him to follow up on that “yes” so that He will give us the gifts and graces we need to be faithful to that covenant.

God love you,
Fr. Finelli