Lovers and Lawyers

This following writing is scanned from the book named: Lovers and Lawyers and other approaches to faith written by Fr. Donald McQuade. Which I read recently and find it interesting and gives insight, so let me share the first chapter of his booklet. (I am not sure of I might be accused of the theft of the copyrighted book?) But I just want to share so that my beloved Christian Brethren will read and afterward have conversion in life.

Lovers and Lawyers

"You do not live under the law but under God's
grace."                                                                            —Rom 6:14

In recent years there have been a number of books and even a couple of Broadway plays spoof­ing the ways of the pre-Vatican II Church, espe­cially the Catholic schools and religious customs of those times: the super-strict nun, the loud priest in the confessional, the 'mysteries' of the old Lenten fast, etc.

No doubt there is a good bit of exaggeration about what actually went on and, having grown up in those times, I do not see most of it as bad or as funny as depicted. Nevertheless, the parodies do make a point. It does seem that there was some­thing out of 'sync' in those times — a rigidity and legalism, a sternness that affected not only the Church but almost all of society.

Perhaps it was the result of the uptight and often hypocritical Victorian Era that preceded it. The idea of "fulfilling the law" was pervasive — in the Church, in society and in personal lives. Legal­ism was very much in vogue. "How far can I go before I commit a mortal sin?" "How much of the Mass must I attend in order to fulfill my obliga­tion?" The punishment for any failure to follow the law and live as one 'should' was expected to be rather severe.

In the old parish missions a priest would usually preach fire and brimstone to be suffered eternally by those who did not fulfill their moral duties. Parishioners might take fright and be 'converted,' only to lapse back into their usual ways in a short while. Fear by itself really can't hold us too long.

At the root of this rigidity, legalism and fear, there was a flawed concept of who God is. True Christians professed that God was our Father who loved us. But somehow he often came across very much like our earthly fathers; our human ways o thinking, acting and feeling were projected onto God.

And so it was assumed that God as a Father would expect his children (us) to obey him completely and if we didn't, he would be disturbed an might even become righteously angry. In fact there even seemed to be a tendency at times to overdo it and God was experientially if unconsciously seen less as a Father who loved us than as a judge seeking `justice,' or perhaps an accountant tallying up our sins against us.                    to be continued