All of the current Fourth of July celebrating reminds me of a story
In the late middle ages there was a cloistered order of Catholic nuns, the Sisters of the Loose Habit. During one of their annual meetings, one of the novices, who was close to taking her final vows, asked about the order’s inclusion of celebacy as one of the three vows each of the sisters pledged. (The three vows were poverty, celebacy, and obedience.)
The elder sisters admitted they were not aware of the origins of the vows. It was just the way things had always been. For centuries, it had been that way. It was tradition.
So, they all agreed that Elder Sister Agnes, the chief scribe in charge of keeping the order’s records up to date, would go back into the archives, back to the original documents detailing the founder’s intentions, and see what she could find. The archives were kept in an ancient cavern beneath the chapel. Sister Agnes and her junior assistant entered the cavern early the next morning.
The sisters waited. The hours passed. As night came on, the anxiously waiting sisters heard weeping and then wailing coming from the cavern. The waiting sisters became even more anxious, fretting about what might be happening with Sister Agnes. But they had all agreed that only Sister Agnes and her assistant would enter the cavern. So they waited. Finally, Sister Agnes & her assistant emerged from the cave, covered in dirt, wracked with tears, sobbing.
The other sisters asked Sister Agnes what was troubling her? What did she discover in the cavern? Did it have anything to do with the origins of celibacy?
Sister Agnes replied, “Several hundred years ago, one of the order’s scribes was copying the order’s original documents, as those documents were deteriorating. In recopying the documents, the sister wrote ‘celebate’ in the new document and left out the ‘R’!!!”
Indeed! Joy and Celebration are part and parcel of holiness, as much as mercy and justice!
Happy Fourth, one and all!!