Fidelity

 

fides - Latin - faithful, loyal
I was sitting in church today, listening to our new priest, whom I like very much.  He spoke about faithfulness, which was the topic of today's readings and many things occurred to me and he pointed out some very obvious things that I had truly missed.

First of all, I had never thought about the priesthood being like an arranged marriage.  He, in his faithfulness to the Church, obediently moves to the parish assigned to him by the Archbishop.  He doesn't get to court the parish.  He doesn't get to choose or have a say.  It is arranged.  And yet, he is faithful.  How beautiful!

This had me musing during church.  I catch myself "apologizing" for not going to our "other Parish" very much.  You see, I have been a brat.  I would rather attend Mass up at the really beautiful church a couple of suburbs away where the music is more beautiful; the Mass more orthodox.   I always seem to be explaining to my "more Catholic" friends, "Well, we belong to both parishes.  We just don't make it up to the other one very often."  I have not been faithful to either Church.

Now, I know that that kind of obedience is not required.  We are not forbidden from attending Mass at another church.  In fact, the preference is to go more than not, and it doesn't seem to matter where.  The more we're at Mass, the better for us.

We ended up at this parish for several reasons, mostly proximity to our home. You can't beat being five minutes from church, especially when you have six kids.  The main reason we are there, though, is Boy Scouts.  My husband decided that the group most of my son's Cub Scout friends joined after crossing over from Cubs to Boy Scouts just wasn't the group for us.  It was too far away and honestly, they are in an extremely prestigious suburb and saw that they do things like go to the Caribbean and out West for troop activities.  We can't afford those kinds of activities.  Remember?  We have six kids.

So, we opted for the Boy Scout troop at the parish five minutes from our house.  And it was a good thing.   My Eagle Scout husband fit in with the group and filled the role as Outdoor committee chair and Assistant Scoutmaster for a couple of years.  The parents got to know him and so did the adult leadership.  Last year,  my husband was recruited to become the Scoutmaster.  My son wishes there were more homeschooled boys in the Troop, but he's at an age where we think it's really good for him to see a little more of the world and learn to get along with others not homeschooled, not the same orthodoxy, not the same world view.  It's all good.  He and his dad have had some really good conversations about music, movies, video games, life, school, athletics that have all resulted from experiences at Boy Scouts.

So what does this all have to do with fidelity?  Well, I have supported my men in the Scouts, without question.  However, until today, I have been underhandedly unfaithful to my parish.  Maybe it's the new priest.  Maybe it's the realization that my husband has been right all along.  And, finally, the talk from Dr. Ray Gaurendi, "Why Be Catholic?" has all finally settled into my big thick head.  It doesn't matter where I go to church.  I have the Church right here, five minutes from home.  And instead of longing for the other church, I can be content with it's faithfulness to me.  Just like God, my Church is right there, waiting for me to come.  It's not going anywhere.  It's there.  For me.

I won't be dropping the other parish.  I just won't be so discontented.  I like our new priest.  If I feel this inspired after every Mass, I may need to attend daily Mass more often!