The Greatest Gift

Well, yesterday saw our parish's Young Adults' Group -- or Young Adults' Society, as we've called it for palindromic effect -- have its first event, which I think was a great success all told. Basically a Jacob's Table thing, where everyone was to bring something for dinner, it astonished me by everyone actually doing just that. That's surely a good sign, as I was convinced only a couple of people would bother.

I made coddle again. It having gone off hitch-free last week, the first time I'd cooked it in two-and-a-half years, I reckoned a second sally was worth the effort. I was quite pleased with the result, but more pleased that there was far better eating available after mass. There aren't many of us yet, but that's allowed. These things should start small. Mustard seeds and all that.

It wasn't till I got home then that I even started to look at this week's Catholic Herald. I've made little progress so far, as I'm pretty swamped nowadays, but have at any rate read Ronald Rolheiser's column, which is particularly strong this week, based as it is on the idea of fidelity.

The greatest gift that we have to give is the promise of fidelity, the promise that we will keep trying, that we won't walk away simply because we got hurt or because we felt unwanted or not properly valued.

We are all weak, wounded, sinful, and easily hurt. Inside of our marriages, families, churches, friendships, and places of work, we cannot promise that we won't disappoint each other and, worse still, that we won't hurt each other. But we can promise that we won't walk away because of disappointment and hurt. That's all we can promise - and that's enough!

I've never been very good at walking away, and I often think that my life would probably be a lot easier if I were, but I think Rolheiser's right on this, as he is so often. The column's worth reading in its entirety.