The Lawyer and the Lover
The readings today prompted a thought that I struggle with daily, the law. No, I haven’t stolen anything… I do occasionally drive a little too fast but I’ll save that for another post. The law I frequently struggle with is God’s law. In an effort to keep this post from being too long, I won’t spend any time going over moral laws and natural laws. However, I would encourage you to reference the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In addition, it is best understood when you read these links in conjunction with scripture and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Some of these references are found at the bottom of the Catechism link page.
The struggle I have with the law is in the discernment process, which is the process we are always called to use. Since, many of the details and particulars of life’s situations are not exactly the same for every person in every time period, the discernment process involves identifying God’s law as revealed through scripture, the magisterium and tradition (Divine Revelation) and applying it to our daily life.
Discernment is difficult. However, it is also life giving and life changing, if we allow ourselves to engage in the process. Following are a couple of brief, and somewhat sarcastic, descriptions of a flawed discernment process:
The Lawyer: There is a tendency in the discernment process to look at God’s law from a legalistic standpoint. In this instance we often disregard the heart of the law, arrive at a point where we are worshiping the law instead of God, and completely miss the real purpose of the law. The law is meant to give us life. We were not created to worship the law; it is a gift from God. However, we are not called to mold the law “into our own image” either. This leads us to the other extreme.
The Free-Spirit Lover: There is another tendency in the discernment process to focus on this interpretation of God’s love: God is love. Love has no limits. This law imposes a limit that I don’t like, find burdensome or have a much better solution for. Since God is love and love has no limits, this law is not of God. Only laws that make me happy and have no restrictions are from God.
Both of these scenarios sound a bit ridiculous when we read them. However, I would be willing to bet that at some point in our lives we have entertained the thought process to both in some way or another.
In today’s 1st reading Paul is writing from jail. He is writing to a community he has ministered to through letters only. In this letter Paul speaks about how the law is purifying, strengthening and ministering to him, and to all people, in the midst of persecution. The psalm reminds us that true strength is found in God alone. The Gospel provides a great example of how the discernment process, when properly understood, respects the law and the heart.
In the Gospel reading the Pharisees are anticipating that Jesus will break the law of “not working” on the Sabbath and choose instead, to heal a man – thus breaking the “letter of the law.” This instance is pretty simple to figure out and provides a great example on how we can apply the same process today.
The law of not working on the Sabbath is a good one and one that should be followed. The idea is that time would be set aside to “work” on building relationships and not things. These relationships include family, friends and God – and yes they they should all be connected. If Jesus had followed the letter of the law and chosen not to heal the man, would he have really been following the intention of the law? Jesus didn’t heal the man for monetary gain, he healed the man to restore a relationship – to heal!
How we apply this to our own life is a process of perpetual discernment. On this Labor Day, we have a wonderful reminder to work on relationships and consider how we honor both the law and the heart in the way that we live our daily lives. Happy Labor Day!