Spiritual Direction: Yours, Mine, and Ours- The Letter Of The Law Controversy

The Letter of The Law vs The Spirit of The Law

To many non-Catholics, nonpracticing Catholics, and to twice a year Church attendees, this article may make little or no sense.  However, to a vast group of us who do attend on a regular basis, this is a real problem in the 21st century Catholic Church.  

Next time watch the number of people who arrive late to Church, please look and see what everyone else sees. 

There are people who continuously show up either fashionably late or attend just time to partake in the Eucharist and then leave right afterward.  Why do they do this?

The answer is not surprising.  Every Catholic has a moral obligation to participate in the eucharistic sacrifice on Sundays.  This dates from the very beginning of Christianity, although it did not become a definite law of the Church until the fourth century. Remember that in the early Church, this would be done in the home of members on the Day of the Resurrection- (Sunday) and the congregation would still attend the synagogue on Saturday for the Service of the Word. That would have been the model for the earliest Christians and later the Church would have three parts to their service- the Service of the Word, The Pre- Anaphora, and The Anaphora. ( This is still done in the Eastern Catholic Churches Today)

The meaning, the scope, and the application of this law have been the subject of much research and study, not to mention the considerable controversy, in the years following the Second Vatican Council. We are going to look at this law as it applies to people today.  

The questions to be answered here:

How much time do I have to spend at Mass
Do I have to really go every Sunday

First, how much time do I have to spend at Mass each Sunday?

The answer varies.  You should come for morning prayer or the rosary.  You should stay for the entire Mass, and then you should go to the fellowship hall and talk with other Church members.  This coffee hour is a vital part of the service.

Second, Do I really have to go every Sunday-Why?

We are a community of believers.  We need to lift everyone up.  As a community, you need to meet other members.  By worshiping together you form a bond with the group.  It is no longer their Church, it is your Church.  Your pronouns here should be Yours, Mine, and Ours.  That is your Church.  It is my (mine) Church and this is Our Church. You can not say this unless you go. 

This is the spirit of the law. The letter of law people will spend at most 15 minutes in the Church.  They do not know anyone at Church and people do not know them.  This is what happens when you arrive late, stay little, and run out the door. Is this truly important to you?  Are you doing this for your eternal salvation?  Will God view this as obeying Him?  No, no, no.  

Romans 1: 1-32

Letter of The Law

1 From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle,

2 set apart for the service of the gospel that God promised long ago through his prophets in the holy scriptures.

3 This is the gospel concerning his Son who, in terms of human nature

4 was born a descendant of David and who, in terms of the Spirit and of holiness, was designated Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ, our Lord,

5 through whom we have received grace and our apostolic mission of winning the obedience of faith among all the nations for the honor of his name.

6 You are among these, and by his call, you belong to Jesus Christ.

7 To you all, God's beloved in Rome, called to be his holy people. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is talked of all over the world.

9 God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually mention you in my prayers,

10 asking always that by some means I may at long last be enabled to visit you if it is God's will.

11 For I am longing to see you so that I can convey to you some spiritual gift that will be a lasting strength,

12 or rather that we may be strengthened together through our mutual faith, yours and mine.

13 I want you to be quite certain too, brothers, that I have often planned to visit you -- though up to the present I have always been prevented -- in the hope that I might work as fruitfully among you as I have among the gentiles elsewhere.

14 I have an obligation to Greeks as well as barbarians, to the educated as well as the ignorant,

15 and hence the eagerness on my part to preach the gospel to you in Rome too.

16 For I see no reason to be ashamed of the gospel; it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who has faith -- Jews first, but Greeks as well-

17 for in it is revealed the saving justice of God: a justice based on faith and addressed to faith. As it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live.

18 The retribution of God from heaven is being revealed against the ungodliness and injustice of human beings who in their injustice hold back the truth.

19 For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them since God has made it plain to them:

20 ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things. And so these people have no excuse:

21 they knew God and yet they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but their arguments became futile and their uncomprehending minds were darkened.

22 While they claimed to be wise, in fact, they were growing so stupid

23 that they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an imitation, for the image of a mortal human being, or of birds, or animals, or crawling things.

24 That is why God abandoned them in their inmost cravings to filthy practices of dishonoring their own bodies-

25 because they exchanged God's truth for a lie and have worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 That is why God abandoned them to degrading passions:

27 why their women have exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices; and the men, in a similar fashion, too, giving up normal relations with women, are consumed with passion for each other, men doing shameful things with men and receiving in themselves due to reward for their perversion.

28 In other words, since they would not consent to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to their unacceptable thoughts and indecent behavior.

29 And so now they are steeped in all sorts of injustice, rottenness, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, wrangling, treachery, and spite,

30 libellers, slanderers, enemies of God, rude, arrogant and boastful, enterprising in evil, rebellious to parents,

31 without brains, honour, love or pity.

32 They are well aware of God's ordinance: that those who behave like this deserve to die -- yet they not only do it, but even applaud others who do the same.

Stop what you are doing right here and now. Did not Christ come to this earth to give us a way of life to live. He did not come for us to question His laws or His ways.  He came so we could eventually come back and live with him. Prepare for the hereafter today and hereafter change your ways.  You are preparing for the eternal right now. Does it make sense to prepare this way?  Will you be successful?  Will you regret your decisions after this life?  Of course you will, the problem will be that by that time it will be too late.  Change now, change today, and change in the future.  Change like your life depends upon it because it does brothers and sisters- it truly does.  Amen