THE MARTYRDOM OF ORDINARY LIVING: The high cost of fidelity.

There is nothing as deflating to being human as to realize that you have been duped by the very organizational thought processes you harbored and assumed were true. As an observer of reality around me, particularly as it pertains to the Catholic Church, I find myself challenged, not by the actual core doctrine (Nicene Creed) of the Church, but by those seemingly sincere believers in what they consider to be Catholic. What follows are some of my random thoughts about belief and the daily challenge of taking up my cross to follow in the footprints of The Christ Principle. I call this my Martyrdom of Ordinary Living because I do not come out of this conflict unscathed but rather battered and bloody.

1. SOME ARE NOT FAITHFUL TO THEIR CATHOLIC HERITAGE BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAD IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. — Faith is an insurance policy or fire insurance for some people I have known. It is being a disciple of Christ if the cost is not too high or inconvenient. These are the ones who have shallow soil or fungus growing in their grass. They don’t see that life is a daily struggle to convert oneself from the boredom of what seems like routine and rote practices (Eucharist, Penance, Conversio Morae, Capcitas Dei (more Jesus, less me), and Lectio Divina, just to name a few. I can speak to this because this is, and can be, as I walk the rocky path of my unique life experiences to try to discover what it means to be human, the meaning of love, and what is truth without human corruption.
2. FIDELITY IN MARRIAGE MEANS YOU RESPECT THE VOWS YOU MADE TO EACH OTHER TO BE FAITHFUL. Fidelity is the easiest of promises to make but the most difficult to keep. In marriage, each partner must the other with being faithful to their promises and not allow the relationship to become one of “I need my space, and you keep yours.” The purpose of my life is not marriage, but the purpose of my marriage is life if WE both work it. The martyrdom of sameness and lack of ability to energize each other to go deeper, beyond the inevitable routine and boredom that is part of original sin, means each of us, and I do mean us, falls into the funky routine of being legally married yet mentally and spiritually divorced. To be fair, at any time, I have reason to be aware of how to grow deeper and make the choice to serve my partner to become what they think the purpose of their life is. In marriage, it takes two to tango, as my mother kept trying to tell me. Fidelity becomes the cornerstone to survivability against the wiles of the Ruler of the Earth (John 14) and the temptation to resist carrying that cross of sameness without using the Christ Principle to move vertically and grow deeper in the mystery of humanity. Life is a way of the cross, and in marriage, two carry the one cross, if fidelity is at the core. Marriage, Holy Orders, being single, and being a Lay Cistercian are not without their challenges to keep the eternal flame of Faith from going out. Going out it will do if the winds of dissension, factions, and coveting my neighbor’s wife of goods (IX and X of the Ten Commandments) are allowed to be the rule rather than the exception. All you have to do is look at the Nightly News to see the plague that is slowly encroaching on the collective morality of the human condition. Fidelity is at the core of commitment but the key to keeping that centered is the relationship I have with a source of energy outside of myself to do for me what mere human goodness can not do. Fidelity is not just about sex or for a priest about not having sex, it is about embracing love at its deepest and most vulnerable level, one where you and Christ sit together on a couch in the upper room of your inner self and enjoy being in each other’s company.
3. THE FIDELITY OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER— One of the wonderful outcomes of taking the time to recite the Liturgy of the Hours or meditate devotions, such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary, is that all of it is designed to put back The Christ Principle were there was once just listless boredom with my Faith. Faith is fidelity to take the time to be with the one you love. Spiritual laziness means I just let God do all the work while I sit back as the critic on why Jesus is always absent. If you want the love of Christ in your life, you must put it there. If you want hatred in your life, you must put it there. Life is a tabula raza, a clean table, on which you can set your feast. The Lord of Life is the grand chef, the one who gives us the very energy of God that we need to be faithful. But, there is a price to pay. Each of us must constantly “have in us the mind of Christ Jesus,” that mindset that stresses being in the presence of Christ.

Think about your fidelity to God and how God never lets you down. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good, and His mercy lasts forever.”

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