When we see God’s laws as a path to avoiding future pain, it is easier to accept and build safe, healthy communities

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 1, 2024

“Keep them, observe them, and they will demonstrate to the peoples your wisdom and understanding.”  There seems to be something within us that does not like rules!
But many rules protect us from harm, from others, and from ourselves.

When growing up as children, good parents ensure we learn to follow the rules and often get disciplined for breaking them.  Rules help create an environment of respect for the people we live with.  We have rules of the land, our family home, road rules, and rules of taxation, etc.

The common thread through all of them, however, is the desire to help us to live and work together in harmony and in an efficient manner: to protect life, and empower the lives of all.

Because life is complicated, and we can never create enough rules for every single situation, we know there are times we cannot follow the rules all the time.  eg. you have to get someone to the hospital before they die: it is normal to break a few road rules along the way.
Your mother is sick, so you skip Sunday Mass to look after her.

For religion, there is also a hierarchy of rules and laws: God is a God of love, protecting life and guiding us to act in ways that respect and love others.  Church rules help us come together and worship in ways that build trust and unity: but the commandments are greater.  The more we disobey the Commandments, the less trust/ peace and happiness is in community life.

We can be guilty, sometimes, of judging and criticising people who break the small rules, and fail to see their other actions which are signs of practical love for those in need.  I recall the story of a former soldier who died, and the man’s sister was anxious about his soul, because he had lost faith in God during the war where he saw great cruelty that God did not stop.

He had stopped attending Church but, more than once a week, he would go to the area of town where people living on the street congregated: they were cold and hungry.  He freely provided food and help with the money he had.  The priest told the man’s sister, you have nothing to fear, for your brother loved much and God will not forget that.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the rules in our Church are important but their purpose, and all ceremonies and other functions, are designed to remind us and empower us to love others. They say the whole, is more powerful than adding up the efforts of each individual.  When we are together, the Church is able to help more people, than acting alone.

So, each member of a Church community must help create an environment where people do not live in fear or feel oppressed by the Church rules.  The Church is, first of all, a place where people must feel welcome, safe and free.

When we receive the Eucharist, it is not only a personal nourishment for our good: but is intended by God to help us to be the presence of Christ in our communities every day.

The criticism by Christ, in today’s Gospel, was that the leaders were exulting of themselves by following many small rules and ignoring the reason for Church: to be the presence of God’s love for all people: thereby creating a division between the “good members” and the “sinners”.

It should be noted, that ordinary people were so busy surviving in life (working long hours, etc.), that they did not have time to fulfil all the demands and rules of the Pharisees and Scribes.

The 10 Commandments provide a framework of how I am to respect other people.  It’s not about “keeping God happy”, but they are a gift to help you and I be happy on earth.

When you hear about a rule you do not like or agree with, I invite you to reflect on how might this rule protect me, or my community?  We may not be able to live it fully, but can we try to live it as much as we can?

An example is pre-marital sex.  The world says do whatever you like.  The Church says wait!  But why?  If it’s natural, and enjoyable, why not?  The answer lies in what it does to us on both the conscious and unconscious levels.

Frequent pre-marital relationships can program our minds to be too “demanding” of our future partner, and make the sexual act cheap entertainment instead of a healing act of love.  It can lead to future relationship problems/ domestic abuse, when self-control is needed.  Then there are the physical dangers of early pregnancy, orphans, father-less children, sexual diseases, etc.

As St James said: “Accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.  But you must do what the word tells you, and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.”  Rules help to limit my “control” of others and doing things that cause “me” harm.

By Gerard Conlan, OMI