Today we enter the arena of laws and given that some of them are not easy to understand or to accept, we might also be tempted to judge them as stupid. The 1st Reading is pretty clear as Moses admonished the Israelites entering the Promised Land to uphold the laws that have held the community together because they had come from God and no one was to add or subtract from them.
But we are also familiar with the term, “man-made laws”. It was exactly what the Pharisees did. They identified 613 commandments or mitzvah complete with customs and taboos. The philosophy behind all these promotions and prohibitions is a God whom we can bargain with. I do this or I refrain from doing this and because you are a just God, you must reward accordingly. St Paul fought against these obligations and taboos by asking the people to be formed interiorly by the Spirit, to be inwardly transformed so that we may know the will of God.
Christ had many encounters with the Pharisees who had no problem piling on guilt upon the masses without themselves being subject to them. Today such a spirit thrives in those who insist on the “rules for thee but not for me”.
The Second Reading of James gives us a clue for what it means to keep the law. He or she rushes to assist the poor and needy. That is the nature of the pure religion. As Christ railed against the Pharisees, it begs the question of the purity of heart because one can cling to the rules or rites without the heart in it.
One of the challenges we face is this. A person attends Mass every day; runs from one Novena to another; prays the Rosary at every opportune moment; fasts three times a week; makes a pilgrimage every year. Is that person a better person? Is he or she automatically closer to God? Or what if the person still sins. He visits prostitutes. She gossips relentlessly.
Modern man looks at this break between belief and behaviour and concludes that religion is ineffective but more than that, hypocritical. An easy target is a Pharisee. Somehow we cannot run away from conflating hypocrisy with a fuller religion. It appears that the more one is religious, the more there seems to be incoherence in practice. What is the problem? What is the solution?
The solution does not lie in getting rid of religion although it is a modern and natural reaction. Since religion harbours hypocrisy, the natural solution to reducing hypocrisy is to rid ourselves of religion. A better response would be to take a closer look at Christ and His challenge.
Ritual purity is not about us. It is never about how “clean” or how “pure” we are before God. It is not a case of making myself “clean” so that I can face God. The presumption is that I am on par with God and that it is up to me to perfect myself in order to face a perfect God. The truth remains that no matter how pure we are, we are never worthy of God. Thus, the answer is to look at the purity of Mary, namely her Virginity and ask what that is all about.
The Church has taught since the beginning that Mary remained a Virgin. Why is it that important? Virginity expresses dedication rather than purity. She was whole-heartedly dedicated to the Lord. The analogy is the tabernacle in every Church. It is reserved only for the Blessed Sacrament. Nothing and not even diamonds can be kept there except the lowly consecrated bread. Why? The tabernacle resembles the womb of Mary. She remained a Virgin because there is no place in her womb for anyone else except her Lord and Saviour. There is no one in the heart of Mary, except her Lord and Saviour.
Likewise for us. Laws are the structures whereas the heart is the flesh. The solution is to cultivate a heart for God. That is why Jesus said so simply to the Pharisees: Nothing from outside can make you unclean inside. What is unclean comes from your inside. If you are filled with evil and violence, you can be sure that your demeanour will exude that.
A true love of the laws must bear fruit in our behaviour. Sometimes we can get caught in discussions about how much we are observing a rite. On the other hand, there are those who react to the perception that there are too many rules and regulations to the point of stifling one’s creativity or desire to serve.
What is missed out is this: where is the heart in all these? To those who love, no distance is ever too great. Anyone who has fallen in love knows this. You will go out of the way, and not only that, you willingly embrace suffering because of love. But to those who struggle to love, even a step is an inconvenience. As the Malays say in their proverb. “Mahu seribu daya. Tak mahu, seribu dalih”. Translated, it literally means that “if you want, you will deploy a thousand attempts. If you do not want, you will table a thousand excuses”.
A simple test for us is the obligation. How many of us find ways of escaping any regulation? We do the minimum in order to fulfil what is required. But amazingly the Church is fantastic because she does not disdain this attitude. Like Christ, she never stops inviting us to a higher plane of love. Look at the contrition in our repentance. Imperfect contrition is the fear of hell. Perfect contrition is sorrow because I have offended God whom I should love with all my heart.
The world will not change if we add more rules or structures of “goodness”. The “globalists” believe they can force people to respect “rules” of engagement, that is, to accept diversity, equity or inclusion. Compulsion can only go as far as the heart is willing because without the heart, those compelled will pay lip-service. What is needed is more love in our hearts for God. The more we love God, the easier the laws are from Him.
Finally, those of us who value freedom associate the exercise of the faculty with choices available. The more choices the greater the freedom. But in truth, there is no absolute liberty to do as we wish because true freedom is to be free for excellence and never to be free for licence. Those who opt for personal licence will always find God’s laws to be burdensome. Those who opt for excellence will always search for the spirit that guides our laws. To those who love God, they will delight because His laws serve as a lamp to their feet, and a light to their path.
