Love is Primary Rules are Secondary

In our Catholic Faith, and I have said this before, one of the most important words is the word, “And.”  We use it often, for instance:

Scripture and Tradition

Faith and Reason or Religion and Science

Faith and Works

Divine Providence and Free Will

Mercy and Justice

Relationship and Commandments

There is not enough time to go into each one, but know that within Catholicism there is a great balance, a mean if you will between two extremes, for example it would sound extreme to us if a person said you are saved by works alone, since that would do harm to Christ’s sacrifice, to his life’s purpose, if someone said you are saved by faith alone (as some do) that would also be extreme since it reduces man to a non-participant and almost making him non-human, no more than a robot, so the answer is somewhere in the middle.  Even so it is usually the first word in the phrase that carries just a little but more weight.

As important as Sacred Tradition is the Scriptures remain the norm of the Church, its principal player.  In salvation though we participate, God remains the principal player.  Using a sports analogy, the first word in the phrase would be the Quarterback, he leads, and the secondary word in the phrase would be the center.  The Quarterback is the principal player, but the center is needed.

Why do I bring this all up?  I bring it up to tell you that God’s mercy is bountiful, enduring, eternal and the principal player when it comes to our relationship with him.  Folks, it comes down to love.

There is the reality of sin and justice, and trust me, they are in the forefront of my mind as I know it is in yours as well, that’s what a good Christian does in order to keep a watchful eye on their efforts to live virtuously.  But that is the secondary player, the secondary word, the first Word, the principal player is God’s “mercy.”

St. Paul was direct and clear, “Brothers and sisters:  God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved . . .” My friends, “even when we were dead in our sins,” Jesus was still pouring out his mercy.  Listen, we did not deserve this mercy, by justice we deserved eternal damnation, but God decided otherwise, going after His wayward children, even when we scorned him, shook our fists at him, even when we crucified him, he came running towards us to forgive and to heal us.  Think of what that means!

There is a contingent of Catholics who just simply love the rules, they want everything black and white and sadly have confused the order of the words.  Relationship and Commandments, that is the right order, both again very important, but “relationship” is the principal player, relationship is the Quarterback.  The Commandments, the rules, again are important, but secondary.  There is that contingent that wants us to believe that it is Commandments and Relationships, with commandments being the principal player.  They judge their own and others relationship by the rules, i.e. have you followed this, have you avoided that, do you follow Church teaching, etc.  My friends, when one is converted, born again (baptized), comes back to faith, they always come back to a person first and foremost, that person is God and in the natural process through love one is moved to a life of holiness even while still sinning.  Everyone sins and if their love was judged by the rules, no one my dear friends would enter heaven, no not even one!  We are judged by love and relationship (and if we truly love we fight hard to be virtuous).

The Gospel confirms that mercy, relationship, and love are the primary words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”  Dear Friends, God did not send his Son into the World to bring it rules nor did he send him into the world to simply judge it, but to save it.

This idea of being loved is sometimes hard to accept and for many reasons, but on an individual level we sometimes find it hard to accept because we judge ourselves harsher and more stringent than God ever would.  We simply either don’t comprehend the depth of this love or sometimes we just reject it because we feel unworthy.  There is something in our lives that keeps us from being healed all the way.  I want you to all know that you are loved, loved, and loved beyond your wildest comprehension.  I have pointed to the cross before to show you how much you are loved, that Jesus would allow himself to be scourged, tortured, made to carry a cross, and then to be nailed to it!  My goodness, who in their right mind would do something like that for people who turned their backs on him?  The only thing that would make someone do something like that is that they were driven by a love so deep it had no boundaries or depths, or heights, but was eternal.

If you leave with one thing, one thought from here today, and again I am not throwing the rules out the window, the rules help us, but it is God’s love for us that lifts us on high.  Remember you are “LOVED!”  You have a great worth, value, dignity, sacredness and God is madly in love with each and every one of you and His love has no limits.  He would do anything to share with and give you that love, even if it meant dying for you!  And TRUST ME HE DIDN'T DO THAT TO FOLLOW RULES!