This episode of Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner reminds us that we are not alone in our relationship with God. We are not alone in the Church. And so we need to know how to get along with each other in the Church. That’s why God, through the Fathers of the Church, gave all Christians rules to follow. These Church rules are called Canon Law.
The Lord is the Master Builder of the kingdom of God. Canon law provides a blueprint. It is not the kingdom itself but a way to best bring the different elements together in proper order and place. Sometimes people need to be told what to do for their own good. Following the regiment of Canon Law thus keeps the Church from generations to generation strong as family.
Christian duty involves action toward the whole Church, the whole world, your whole family and to yourself. In the commandments and the precepts you see the basic understanding of duty. In 1913 and 1983, when the Church took a fresh look at the Church Fathers they then called to mind the duties of the clergy and the duties of the laity. Up until this century, the canon law of the Catholic Church was scattered over a wide variety of texts and collections.
The Catechism reminds us that Christians are not ‘lone wolf’ followers of Jesus Christ, but part of a community of believers who become a member through faith in Christ and Baptism. We are family. We are a family that needs rules, and the grace to keep them!
