With Spring weather beginning, I recently took a couple of walks around Bellingham, which were really the first walking tours I had taken since I arrived here (apart from the periodic trips to Arliss’s). I have been particularly fascinated by Whatcom Creek and following it from Bellingham Bay inland.
This, of course, led me to old historical maps of Bellingham, to see how that creek shaped the development of our streets and settlements. Water features used to be a much bigger deal back in the day, after all. And then this led me to Joe St. Hilaire’s centennial history of our parish, specifically the map on page 8 (showing the originally platting of “New Whatcom” before we purchased our land) and the picture on page 22 showing just how divided our parish was from the old downtown by the chasm and swamp that used to be Whatcom Creek. Truly, my happiness seems directly proportional to the number of old maps and pictures I am exposed to in a given month.
Suffice it to say, I love history. I specifically love history because it connects me in a deep way to those who have come before me. To stand in the same place as early pioneers of Bellingham, to look at the same buildings and to walk the same streets as those who lived here a century before – all of this is incredibly thrilling to me. It makes me feel anchored to something bigger than myself, a feeling sorely lacking in a society that feels the compulsive need to reinvent itself each couple of decades, in a way that rejects and condemns everything that has come before. I much prefer to study previous generations in order to receive their wisdom and insights, even as I also look to improve on what they may be offering.
This is also what I love so much about Christianity. Through the Catholic faith, I am directly connected to the thoughts, devotions, and lives of every Christian who has come before me. As we prepare for Holy Week, we do not do so merely with every other culture on the face of this Earth, but always with every other generation that has celebrated Holy Week for the last two millennia. So many lives touched by the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So many eras. So many cultures. We will pray the prayers that they prayed, reflect on the mysteries that they reflected on, and hopefully until ourselves to the Lord with whom they are already connected for all eternity.
Fr. Moore 