The question above, taken from the Gospel of Luke is not necessarily a pessimistic prophecy but a sobering challenge to persist in faithfulness. Fr. Ron Rolheiser defines faithfulness as acting with respect and staying committed to your beliefs and relationships, even when emotional fervor is absent. It is a choice to persevere through difficulties, “staying with” people and principles rather than betraying them. For Rolheiser, faithfulness is less about consistent emotional passion and more about the steadfast practice of remaining morally aligned with your commitments, which he considers a profound gift to others.
Faith and love are too easily identified with emotional feelings, passion, fervor, affectivity, and romantic fire. And those feelings are part of love’s mystery, a part we are meant to embrace and enjoy. But, wonderful as these feelings can be, they are, as experience shows, fragile and ephemeral. Our world can change in fifteen seconds because we can fall in or out of love in that time. Passionate and romantic feelings are part of love and faith, though not the deepest part, and not a part over which we have much emotional control.
Some of us might have to settle for a faith that says to God, to others, and to ourselves: I can’t guarantee how I will feel on any given day. I can’t promise I will always have emotional passion about my faith, but I can promise I’ll always be faithful, I’ll always act with respect, and I will always do everything in my power, as far as my human weakness allows, to help others and God.
Love and faith are shown more in fidelity than in feelings. We can’t guarantee how we will always feel, but we can live in the firm resolve to never betray what we believe in! [Excerpt from Ron Rolheiser’s “Love and Faith as Fidelity” February 2025]