Thank God For Tradition

I finally learned how to trust and even lean on Catholic tradition after years of inner turmoil about the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in my life.

When I became a Catholic at 19, I was overjoyed to discover a wealth of wisdom and teaching on prayer, spirituality and the faith. It was like unlocking a door to a vast library of  information that had been kept hidden from me . This was information that I could count on, that I could trust as authentic, tried and true. This treasure trove of instruction had passed the test of time, the test of the saints and the experts.  I realized that as a Protestant who relied solely on sacred scripture, I had basically thrown out 2,000 years of the faith experiences of those who had gone before me.

Even the Bible itself says that it has written down only a fraction of everything that Jesus said and did. Yet, I was denying the veracity of anything that was not in the Bible. I had experienced hearing the voice of God within my own heart, but I was refusing to listen to thousands of years of divine revelation given to the saints, and tested by those who could be trusted to discern those divine revelations.

I slowly came to understand that God gave full authority to His Son, Jesus Christ, who in turn, gave full authority to Peter and the Apostles, when He told Peter that He would build his church upon him and gave him the keys to the kingdom. (Matthew 16:18–19). This means that I can freely place my trust in the Church, which speaks and acts with the authority that comes from God through Jesus Christ.

 I finally learned how to lean on this tradition after years of inner turmoil about the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in my life.

Naturally, as a former Protestant, I  struggled with the spiritual reality of Mary. So, while I ranted against her, Mary simply decided to grab my attention by moving into my heart. Hilariously, I felt guilty about my relationship with the Blessed Virgin, almost like a heretic for 10 years after I became a Catholic, because she had a relationship with me that I thought was wrong. I became a Catholic anyway, because I was starving to receive the Eucharist and did not fit anywhere but in the Catholic Church.

 Finally a dear friend, Fr. Robert Pelton, who was Director General of priests at Madonna House in Combemere, Ontario, Canada said,

"Melanie, why don't you just rest for a while by putting your trust in the teachings of the Church. Trust in the wisdom of thousands of years of experience and simply enjoy the wonderful gift your Heavenly Mother has given you. Put this theoretical debate on the back-burner and simply live out your spirituality in faith."

Thank God for this priest. Thank God for tradition, and thank God that I did not have to figure out everything on my own. When I stopped the inner sophistry, the endless debates that circled in my brain, then the Holy Spirit had a chance to confirm everything that tradition taught me.

Every newborn Christian does not have to reinvent the wheel; they have a treasure trove of wisdom to lean on, to guide and teach them.