Pope or Police

Obeying the law of love over the law of the land

12/31/2018

John 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

Shortly after I was ordained, the bishop sent me to study canon law. Canon law is the code of rules that govern and guide the life of the Catholics around the world. There are 1,752 canons for Catholic conduct, and I learned about 3 of them. Interestingly, I studied canon law in Washington, D.C., the center of the federal government that creates our civil laws. It dawned on me that American Catholics, therefore, live under two sets of laws: the laws of the church and the laws of the state, canon law and civil law. For instance, civil law stipulates that you can drive at 16, vote at 18 and drink at 21. And canon law states you can receive Holy Communion after 7, be confirmed at 14, and only men can be ordained after 25.

But furthermore, these two laws are separate and do not overlap. Hence, the so-called “separation of church and state.” As a result, when the police officer pulls you over for speeding, he does not ask you, “Have you been confirmed yet.” He could care less about canon law; he only enforces civil laws.

But it did not take me long to learn that this separation of church and state is not that simple or straightforward. Sometimes, the law of the land (civil laws) can come directly into conflict with the law of love (canon law). For example, the church holds that a baby has a right to life even in the mother’s womb, whereas civil law has denied that right to the baby in favor of a woman’s right to choose an abortion. That’s the clearest case of conflict between the law of the land and the law of love. But we could mention many others, like immigration, euthanasia, same sex marriage, sterilizations and contraceptives, divorce and annulments.  This conflict puts Catholics in a quandary because we have to choose which set of laws to obey. Should we obey the law of the land or the law of love, should we be more concerned about the police or about the pope?

In the gospel today, St. John describes two other sets of laws that the early Christians were struggling to obey, namely, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The beloved disciple, John, writes: “While the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The thousands of laws of the Old Testament had literally become the law of the land in Israel because for a Jew there is no true separation of church and state. To live in Israel meant not only obeying civil laws but also the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue), in addition to the hundreds of other ritual laws, like no work on the Sabbath. That’s why Palestinians and Arabs can never tolerate that type of legal society. But with Jesus comes “grace and truth,” that is, the law of love, and as a consequence, at least for Christians, the Old Testament is superseded by the New Testament. Christians can never seem to escape this tension and tug of war between these two sets of laws: the law of the land or the law of love; obey the police or obey the pope?

Every December 31, this conflict of the law of the land and the law of love take on a cultural tone. That is, do we Catholics see the end of this calendar year and the start of a new year solely through secular eyes? Do we give our time and attention to planning parties and watching the famous ball drop in New York’s Times Square? Of course, those are not bad things, but they are only symbols of the law of the land. How much effort and energy will we expend on seeing today and tomorrow through spiritual eyes? For a Catholic, December 31 is first and foremost the seventh day in the Octave of Christmas, and tomorrow is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. The demands of the law of love require us to attend Mass tomorrow. But many Catholics are more worried about the police tonight than they are about the pope tonight. Can you see how the law of the land governs their lives more than the law of love?

I hope and pray everyone has a safe and joyful New Year, and that the Lord will bless this world with his peace in 2019, a peace this world cannot give. We are very fortunate to live in this country and enjoy so many blessings. But when the law of the land comes inevitably into conflict with the law of love, we may find out exactly how Catholic our Catholicism really is.

Praised be Jesus Christ!