Working as I do in several languages and cultures, I try hard to convince people of other cultures of the need to evangelize here in the United States. You see other parts of the Americas are predominantly Catholic and so those living in a predominantly Catholic, environment understand their faith differently than those of us here in the United States, especially in the North East.

One criticism I make to them about US Catholicism is that it leans heavily on the law, because our US culture is legalistic. Many American Catholics will cite laws and rules as central to their faith. They are not wrong, but rules and laws are always the minimum standard. For example, officially the rule of the Church is to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist once per year. This is what is called the Easter Duty and, indeed, one only needs to go to confession if one has a mortal sin. If a person does not commit a mortal sin, he or she never has to go to the sacrament of Reconciliation. However, Pope John Paul II recommended receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation monthly, as does Monsignor Jonas Abib, founder of The New Song Community (Canção Nova) and daily mass is also strongly encouraged. Yet, that far exceeds the standards of the law of the Church.

This is a reality that we as Americans need to look at: our understanding of the law of the Church versus putting God’s law into practice. As I wrote above, the law, regardless of where you find it, is always a minimum standard. That is because the maximum standard is rooted in charity. Law comes in when charity is lacking. Even in civil society, when we have a clash between the law and our values, it is because the law maintains a lower standard than our values. Remember this, what Christ demands of us is more than even the Church law demands of us.

This brings us to the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember in Jesus’ day, the Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews. Samaritans were a culture that lived a mixture of pagan and Jewish practices, anathema to traditional Judaism. Therefore, in the Jewish mindset, Samaritans, by virtue of their very existence were law-breakers.

However, the examples that Jesus gives of those who step-over the man set upon by robbers are all people that actually follow the law. The priest for example, could not by virtue of the law commit an act that would render him impure and to touch the blood of the victim would in fact do that. He just stepped over the poor man. It was the man whom the Jews considered a law breaker from the start who does the right thing. However, his standard is not the letter of the law, but the law of love. Jesus then sets the standard for us as being not the letter of the law, but the law of love—a higher standard.

This is a rule here. We are given the standard of love to live by, not the standard of love for your neighbor to live by. What do I mean by that? Simple, you need to live by the standard, don’t go around looking for others that are not. You focus on living by that standard.

Let me also raise the standard in another way. All Catholic morality is based on the law of love. Let us take one example of sin. Adultery-Adultery is against the law of God. One who commits adultery breaks the seventh commandment. However, the act of NOT committing adultery, in the face of temptation to do so, is an act of love for your spouse and your children, present and future. Therefore, the law says do not commit adultery, however, the act of not committing adultery is the real the act of love. The same can be said for sex outside of marriage,  stealing, bearing false witness, etc. Meanwhile, we fight them by attending mass, saying your prayers or any other moral act that you and I have an obligation to do. Acting in love is the requirement, the law is there to indicate when you have not. It is a minimum standard.

This goes for priests as well. When you learn of a priest getting caught doing something immoral, you can assume the priest lost a sense that people are looking to him to set the standard of the law of love. Just as in society, yes, there are those who succumb to temptation, but the greatest way to fall into temptation is to focus on the legal standard. Once a person, whether they be ordained or not, realizes that it is the act of love not to fall into temptation, then to prevent falling into temptation one has to imagine not the affects of breaking the law, but the affects of breaking hearts. Remember, it is the law of love that has the highest standard and, therefore, the highest consequences.

There was a discovery several years ago where community leaders were trying to lead teens away from gangs. What they found is the best way to address this is to get the teens to imagine their mothers visiting them in jail. The mother, this source of love, is whom they would disappoint by committing crime. So it is with all of us, priest or not, when we commit sin. It is the people who love us most who are most hurt. Therefore, if we want to show love to them, then we need not focus on not doing what is illegal, but doing what is the most loving thing to do. We learn that from Christ.

The Samaritan acted at a higher standard than simply following Jewish law. It is standard that each of us have a call to obey at baptism. Let us live that higher standard today.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J. Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Somerville, MA and is the editor of this blog.

Photo Credit:
top: ktsdesign
Middle: Hermano Leon
Bottom: Otna Ydur