Do Not Get On That Bus

Obedience is the heartbeat of the Church. When one obeys, one acknowledges that oneself is not definitive source of truth, and thus also not the definitive source of authority. Thus, priests promise to obey their bishops, trusting that the bishops themselves are obedient to the tradition they are ordained to preserve and share, which in turn was derived from the apostles who were obedient to Christ.   Obedience ensures that everyone is going in the same direction at once. 

Pilgrimages also demand a level of obedience. One person is in charge. We follow him. We do this not necessarily because he always knows where we are going, but rather, because it is better to be lost as a group than as forty individuals trying to make our way alone. 

Our resolve to obey has been tested in the chaos of transportation.  Each day a handful of local youth have accompanied our group, each speaking some level of a language one of our group members speaks.  In their zeal to help, every time we board a bus or train, they ask other locals if we are going the right way. Unfortunately, no two people ever seems to agree about where the bus or train is going. As a result, Fr. Christensen will shout "Get on this one!" and when half are on board our Brazilian companions will cry, "Get off!  This is the wrong one!" Except that usually it isn't the wrong one. 

Truthfully, we have navigated the city relatively effectively so far, and having traveled with Fr. C. in the past, I implicitly trust his unerring sense of direction. We always get where we are going. But, it is hard to ignore people who speak the language.  So, I had a chuckle last night when the Brazilians began entering a bus and Fr. C. bellowed, "They can go where they want. Rapid City, Do Not Get On That Bus."

And we arrived home quite safely. 

Today is catechesis and then we welcome the Pope to Brazil and WYD at Copacabana Beach. I'll have more to say then.