Students are pledging to do something significant with their lives as they move forward after graduation. Our Blessed Mother Mary is recognized in a special way this month as a model of faith who stood on the promises given to her by an angel: "Blessed are you who believed that God's promises would be fulfilled"(Luke 1:45). We will be celebrating our own mothers for keeping their promises to love and care for us in our youth. All of these examples of promises raise an obvious and important question: What is the value of a promise? It all depends on who is making it!

From the beginning of creation God solidified his relationship with humankind through promises. These promises were an essential part of every covenant that God entered into with his people. It was precisely these promises that sustained his people when life's circumstances were most difficult. The key to their hope was God's impeccable reputation: God had never reneged on any pledge that he had made, oath that he had sworn, or word that he had given. Jesus said "Soon the world will no longer see me," but immediately assured his followers with a promise: "but you WILL see me. I will not leave you orphans!" As believers in God and disciples of Christ, if we are not standing on the promises, we're just sitting on the premises!