True Love
“My mother is sick; my free time is given over completely to her. Most of my weekends, I could not attend the Mass or pray. Have I committed sin?”
It is very common for us to ask such questions. Many times, we confuse law and morality. Morality transcends law. It involves more than following laws. It brings into consideration the entire situation of the problem at hand.
It is God’s desire that we all live a good life. If any of our actions are likely to add to the well-being of some one – helping them to live a good life – then it should be encouraged. God will never demand anything that is contrary to human well-being: any religion that doesn’t subscribe to the welfare of its followers but gives utmost importance to its own laws or reduces itself to a system of laws and legalities, rules and regulations, doctrines and dogmas.
In the Gospel, Jesus abhors rigid religious practices which do not allow people to live their lives like free children of God. Jesus, quoting the words of Isaiah, describes people who follow rigid laws and regulations: “Their reverence of me [God] is worthless, the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments”. Jesus teaches all of us how to live our religion in a joyful way.
No law – state or church – is absolute. Only the law of God is absolute. True love is the ultimate criterion for all of our moral actions and that is the Law and the Will of God.
True commitment to God finds ways to expresses one’s faith to God in many and different ways. Where there is love, there is God.
– Fr. Ranjan D’Sa, OCD