Following the rules to freedom

Today I attended a glorious Mass at my children's new school with one of my favorite priests whose homilies always plunge me into deep reflection. This particular time, he took advantage of the opportunity to include precious young input by asking the children, "Why do we have rules?" My summarizing gives the wrong impression, as though he put this tritely as grown-ups so often do with young children. Actually, this priest is very intellectual and if you don't pay close attention to the ebbs and flows of his thought process, you will lose out on its many complexities and cadences. I felt pleased that he extended this gift to the children at Mass. Also, in this case, he was referring to the Code of Canon Law, not necessarily traffic laws.

The children responded with equally deep thoughts. One young man in first grade or so responded with, "To help us become better people." Wow! My own 2nd grader answered, "To tell us how to act." There were other answers, all of which were reasonable, but that first one I mentioned held the key to Father's message, which was (I think): God gave us laws not to squelch our freedom but to cause our freedom. This type of concept takes a leap of not only faith but action.

I hope you will forgive me for now turning to somewhat grown-up subject matter as I ponder this concept. A good example is Jesus' clarification of the commandment to never commit adultery. Jesus states that even thinking about another person lustfully is a form of adultery~~it's not just about adulterous actions. The message is, if you are thinking about someone lustfully, do whatever you can to stop thinking that way. He uses examples like "cut off your hand if you need to," or whatever body part is causing you to sin. A pastor once used this as a reference to masturbation, which never once occurred to me until then but certainly makes sense.

So, many people, Christians included, might not take this very seriously. What is the harm in thinking lustfully, one might ask, or even masturbating, if one is not actually committing adultery? This is one of those times when obedience to a law is an opportunity for freedom rather than a cause for complaint. It takes a leap of faith. Our human minds can find endless justification for thoughts and actions that don't seem to cause any harm to others and, therefore, must be a-okay. But what if there is freedom on the other side of this lust? What if, rather than trying to annihilate our "sexuality" and "humanity," this law gives us an opportunity to further blossom into the individual we were created to be, liberated from the desires which control us to the point of temptation and possible sinning?