I'm a Local

My cousin came to visit me recently. She is my mountain cousin. I was her beach cousin, but because of life's interesting, fortunate and unfortunate (depending on how you look at it) circumstances, I am her city cousin now.

mountain cousin in pink scarf and city cousin in blue scarf

I took her around some fun D.C. sites. Actually, she planned her own tour, I just sort of tagged along and pretended to play tour guide. But in any event, I got to play in the city that I have been near for almost four years, worked in for 3 months last summer, and am about to start working in full time.

It took someone new, a visitor, to get me to appreciate what I already knew. I am queen of the metro. I can drive on a roundabout. Food trucks are fabulous. Lobster roll from a four-wheeled vehicle? Bulgogi tacos? Pupusas? Yes please and thank you. I can take tourist photos and still be cool, because I'm actually a local. I can break the law. You heard me. I walk across crosswalks when the red hand is emploring me to stay put, and my sweet little mountain cousin sprints after me, afraid of oncoming traffic, but more afraid to be left alone on one side of the block.

pupusas, YUM

I can even walk through a modern art exhibit without making fun of everything I see. Unless it's the Phillips Collection. Or the Hirshorn. I seriously don't get modern art. But my mountain cousin loves it, and I love her, so I can't hate on Mark Rothko and Blinky Palermo too much.

Art?

Also art?

Mountain cousin, viewing art?

Mountain cousin's visit bringing a newfound sense of appreciation for my proximity to the city and my knowledge of the area is not a unique thing. I realized in her visit how I am getting the same experience every time I meet someone who wants to learn about the faith. I am especially blessed to be sponsoring a candidate for RCIA this year. She asks me the hard questions, the real questions, the questions that I need to know and believe myself if I want to call myself a follower of Christ.

As Catholic Christians, we can't get too comfortable in our own little Catholic pow-wows. We need the Church, and our "supply line", if you will, of Catholic friends who can help us with our own questions, but we are a culture of evangelization. We have been called by Christ to baptize people, but not to worry because He is with us always. It was good for him to leave us, because while he was a man on earth, he could be one place at one time, but after he ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit descended down upon us so Jesus could be present in every tabernacle around the world.

Every future saint we meet in our lives changes and shapes us. Every soul we meet along the way has something beautiful to offer us. To be able to appreciate something old-hat for what feels like the first time is a gift given to us through others.

We are the locals. We are the ones whose job it is to evangelize and play tour guide for our universal home that is God's Church.