Laws Make Us Free

“What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?”

One of the things I love about living on campus here is that every morning and every afternoon, I get to walk by the playground. And I have to say that I love when I see young families and their kids out there—parents sitting on the benches hanging out with each other, the kids running around, jumping around all over. They’re all paying attention to the playground itself, they’re paying attention to each other, they’re paying attention to everything within the playground area. But you know what they’re not paying attention to? No one pays attention to the fence.No one even seems to mind the fence! And yet, it’s there…but why?

It’s not too often that all of the readings plus the psalm address the same exact theme: “What does it mean to follow God’s law?” What does it mean to follow God’s law? The Law is presented in our first reading as a good thing. Not just a good thing…it’s supposed to be life-preserving, life-giving! St. Moses commands the people of Israel to hear the statutes and decrees he is giving them so that they may live. And look, as much as I want to talk about the world’s problem with the 10 Commandments, I want to take this a different angle since I don’t think too many of you in here have a problem with the 10 Commandments.

No, I want to address that elephant in the room that our Lord Jesus, as cool as he is with the divine law, seems to put down what he calls “human tradition.” He quotes Isaiah to accuse the Pharisees of disregarding God’s law but clinging to human tradition. And I know many of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters who use that line to put down the laws of the Church. This especially comes up, for example, during Lent for our days of fasting and abstinence. People bring it up every year, that red meat on Fridays just seems so arbitrary and man-made…“human tradition,” if you will.

But our Lord Jesus wasn’t denouncing the “human traditions” in and of themselves. He was denouncing what they had become, that is, a hyper focus on the external acts themselves. By the divine law, the only time a Jew needed to wash himself was when he entered the Temple. The Pharisees later took that concept and applied it to other aspects, like washing before meals. This ensured that people were always ritually and legally clean. That’s actually a great thing because that teaches the people that not only is the sacrificial meal at the Temple holy, but every meal we partake in is holy. That’s why we as Christians say grace before every meal. But the problem became that it just became the ritual itself, the external act rather than persevering for that interior and moral cleanliness.

But, just so you’re aware, the Church has 5 precepts. The Five Precepts of the Church are: 1) Attend Mass every Sunday and on holy days of obligation, and rest from servile labor. 2) Confess your sins at least once a year. 3) Receive the Holy Eucharist at least during the Easter season. 4) Observe the days of fasting and abstinence. 5) Provide for the material needs of the Church. Again, that’s 1) Sunday obligation, 2) annual Confession, 3) Easter duty, 4) fast and abstain, and 5) material needs of the Church.

I think when we look at something like the laws of fasting and abstinence, we get hung up by the rules. But notice how the other precepts are: a lot of them are “at least” kind of rules, like confess at least once a year, receive Communion at least in Easter. So, when we take the Five Precepts in context, they’re actually bare minimum guidelines. Like, we’re just expected at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, but you have the option of going more often if you want; Confession is mandated for just once a year, but many up it to once a month; and pretty much everyonereceives Holy Communion every single time they go to Mass, not just once in Easter. They’re bare minimum rules, just like the 10 Commandments are bare minimum rules.

Why is that? The Catechism says that the “obligatory character of these [precepts] is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum…in the growth of love of God and neighbor.” In other words, this is the bare minimum to assure we’re growing in love of God and neighbor! It’s easy for us as Catholics to get really hung up on the externals of, “Why does the Assumption of Mary need to fall on a Thursday when band rehearsal is Thursdays?” Or, “today is a Friday in Lent, so let me make a big stink at work today about how I need to eat fish.” But really, they’re meant to help us grow in freedom and in love as sons and daughters of God.

And there’s so much more to do in that regard. St. James gives two examples in his second reading: caring for orphans and widows. So what the Church is saying is that these [left] things you must do, but if you want to grow more still, you can also do these [right] things. But we can’t these [right] things without first doing these [left] things.

In other words, the precepts and rules of the Church are the fence, and our love of God and neighbor is the playground. The fence exists to mark off that section of the greenspace as dedicated to the playground; when you enter the fence, you’re entering the playground, and when you leave the fence, you’re leaving the playground. And we have the choice to enter and leave whenever we want. But if we’re choosing to stay inside the fence, we’re not meant to spend the afternoon staring at the fence. If we spend the whole time staring at the fence, of course the playground area is going to look and feel like a prison! Of course we’re going to feel like animals in a cage, rather than beloved sons and daughters. If only we could just turn around, we’d see the whole playground, we’d see how much room there actually is to play in.

So, I encourage you firstly to read that section of the Catechism on the precepts of the Church; it’s the 2040s section. It’s really quite beautiful. But the main thing this week is to keep in mind the theme for this year’s Eucharistic Congress: Remain in my love. Remain in my love. The Lord Jesus wants us to invite us into and to stay in the playground area. And this invitation is not an method of oppression; laws and rules are supposed to be good things. They’re supposed to be opportunities to freely grow in love with Jesus. So let’s take this time now, let’s take this week, to examine ourselves. If there’s been anytime we’ve left the playground, come to the Sacrament of Confession. And let’s recommit ourselves to growing in freedom and in love as sons and daughters of God.