Like how traffic rules minimize road accidents and fatalities; laws promote order, peace and personal safety; and church rules uphold the inviolable dignity of the individual from conception until natural death and champion social justice.
Sometimes there may be rules I do not understand, but I still defer to the wisdom of those who have elucidated, endorsed or upheld the rules and comply.
However, I continue to question and seek for answers in order to comprehend the spirit behind the rules for I think that following rules blindly is dangerous; like a car wreck just waiting to happen.
Therefore I have a responsibility to cultivate a "faith-seeking understanding" to illuminate my way and bring unity in my relationship with my Creator.
Although the moral teaching of the Church seems rigid and irrelevant at first read, especially in light of casual and capriciously frangible relationships that seem to be the norm, in taking the trouble to understand how each teaching came into existence and why, has allowed me to experience a reality of Catholicism that points me towards a meaningful, joyful and fulfilling existence.
The decision not to be a Buffet or Cafeteria Catholic, one who picks and chooses aspects of the faith to follow, left me with just one option: to embrace my faith fully.
To trust that the members of the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church, are as divine inspired as the men who wrote and transcribed all the books in the Bible. And at the same time, to try to make sense of the rules and make them mine.
Given the tensions of adhering to a code that is at odds with a sexually liberal, relativistic world, it is not a popular option, but the more I stick to it, the more my faith has been repaid, with deeper insight and understanding. Even if it sometimes takes years.
Obedience is a word most adults associate with children and one which they think they outgrow when a state of independence is attained, forgetting that obedience is a virtue that leads to inner freedom. This is the Christian paradox - and one that I have tested in recent years and found worthy of notice.
Children obey their loving parents out of love for they know their parents have only their best interests at heart. So do I trust in God's love for me (I KNOW He loves me very much) or do I, like Eve, believe the suggestion of the serpent who insinuates that my Father and His love for me are not to be trusted?
If I love and trust Him, do I love and trust Him in all things, all the time? Does my behaviour reflect my beliefs and attitudes consistently?
My fickleness and forgetfulness let me down at times, so I am glad God never gives up on me.
And when I find rules tedious and unrewarding, I remind myself that at the very crux of every one of my Father's rules is love: an invitation to a culture of life that is rich beyond imagination, a benediction of my unique and inviolable dignity as woman, and an ode to the miracle and glory of creation.
Hortus Inclusus (The Interior Garden by John & Michael Cullen)
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