Celebrating 900 Years!

The Virtue of Fidelity

As Templars, what do we mean by fidelity? Is it loyalty to a specific office or leader? Faithfulness to a specific tradition or way of doing things? As a priest I would clearly state that it is none of the above, rather being laser-focused on what it means to have chosen to follow the ideal of protecting Christians at risk in the Holy Land. That said, what is the “foundational fidelity”- what grounds us in the first place- to do this? I would say that it is our commonality that we share in our baptismal vows, that those of who celebrate confirmation renewed when we were confirmed, and for those of us who have the opportunity, renew our baptismal vows every year at The Great Vigil of Easter.

Grounded in our Christianity—which is nourished and fed by our regular faith community—is the fuel that feeds us on our Templar journey. This may seem too simple, yet so often it is the hardest thing to do. To stay focused- to maintain fidelity- is not an easy thing. It is a continual journey that never ends, needing continual renewal. Fidelity, especially as a Templar, is not something we decide to do in the morning, and then decide to do something else in the evening. While we are clear that we do not claim direct lineage from the original Templars, we can certainly take to heart their fidelity to their spirituality and practice it as 21st Century Templars. To do so would be exhibiting a remarkable fidelity not only to them, but more importantly, to who we are as Christians.