Faithful to the End

We recently returned from a fabulous trip in Italy. As I think of the most memorable highlight that left the greatest impression on me, I'd have to choose our visit to Assisi. The moment would be in the relic chapel in the Basilica of St. Francis. I had my Rick Steves' Italy 2010 travel guide with me (don't leave home without it) and was following his self-guided tour of the Basilica.

In this chapel of relics, I saw a prayer that St. Francis had written to Brother Leo. At the end of the prayer, St. Francis had a simple tau cross as his signature. Rick Steves writes on page 558, "The last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, tav ("tau" in Greek) is symbolic of faithfulness to the end. Francis signed his name with this simple capital-T-shaped character."

How's that for St. Francis understanding his identity? He so identified with Christ's faithfulness that he adopted the tau cross as his personal signature. This has deeply impressed me. I bought a small wooden tau cross as a souvenir and still need to hang it up somewhere where I will be reminded that this is also my identity. Christ's unending faithfulness will keep me; He will even keep me faithful to the end. Wow.

As we celebrate Easter this weekend, we see the faithfulness of Christ to the end. He was faithful - even to death on a cross.
Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." Luke 22:42 This Easter weekend - and every day following - no matter how difficult the path is, I want to bow before the Father and have my prayer be, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."

Today, instead of signing my name as Amity or Marianne, I simply close with this: T