The ‘Spirit’ of the Law argument is an argument that a modernist relatafish (spineless relativistic fish) brings up whenever you discuss current problems within the Church with them. It goes something like this:
Practising Catholic (PCat): I wish the parish priest would stop calling the children up the sanctuary to hold hands during the Our Father. It’s grave liturgical abuse and shouldn’t be done.
Relatafish (R. fish): Why not? I think it’s wonderful! It gives the children a great opportunity to get close to the priest. I don’t see why you’re so upset.
PCat: Because it’s grave liturgical abuse! The rubrics don’t call for it, and it does nothing for the children except to teach them there is no such thing as sacred space. No wonder no one has any respect for Mass anymore.
R. fish: so what if it’s not in the rubrics, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone. Besides, maybe he doesn’t know. I mean, he has the best intentions right?
PCat: It doesn’t matter whether he has the best intentions, he should know that it’s abuse. What do they teach in seminary? Even if he doesn’t, he knows he’s disobeying the instructions in the Roman Missal. He’s putting his soul and all our souls at risk!
R. fish: Who are you to judge him, man? You just think that way cause it’s not traditional, don’t you? Well, you remember what Jesus said about the pharisees? They followed the letter of the law to the fullest extent but without following any of the spirit. Father might not be following the letter of the law, but at least he is following the spirit of it. What’s the point of following the letter if you don’t follow the spirit of the law? I mean look at you, bowing during the creed, kneeling to receive communion on the tongue. These are just actions dude, God sees what’s in the heart. Don’t be so judgemental Faithful Practising Catholic. Next, you’re gonna tell me that I’ll going to go to hell for sleeping with my girlfriend.
PCat: Uh, yes. The Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is a mortal sin. If you die in a state of mortal sin you’ll go straight to hell. You should go for confession and stop sleeping with her. Don’t you care about your immortal soul?
R. fish: There you go again. Look, we love each other right? So what’s the big deal. I’m going to marry her anyway. You and all your rules. You should really focus more on the spirit of the law man. I mean God, knows that we love each other, and if we’re doing wrong he’ll forgive us right?
PCat: Right…Say, isn’t that your girlfriend over there? Who’s that guy she’s holding hands with?
The problem with this argument is that the Spirit of the law cannot exist on it’s own. The Church rarely does things in an either/or fashion, as the protestants do, rather a lot of things are both/and. Likewise, the spirit of the law complements the letter of the law. One cannot follow one without the other. Both are needed for the person to grow.
Let’s have a look at the traditional way of receiving communion.
I once brought this topic up in a group of friends, and one relatafish told the rest of the group, ‘Ya, you can do that if you want to be more holy. You don’t have to otherwise, God sees what’s in your heart.’ That’s the ‘Spirit’ of the Law argument at play. Are we not at Church so that we can be more Holy, since Holiness is the only path to heaven, and eternal life with God?
The letter of the law says that the traditional AND preferred way of receiving communion is on the tongue, while kneeling. The letter of the law says that our hands are not consecrated and we are unworthy to touch the body of Christ, who is God. This also prevents anyone running off with the Blessed Sacrament, or having it fall to the floor. http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwmemor.htm
The real spirit of the law says we need receive communion on the tongue, while kneeling, as a sign of humility that we lower ourselves before the Lord, Our God. The kneeling allows us to adore and revere Him, while receiving on the tongue reminds us that we need to be child-like and be completely dependent on Him.
They work together, hand in hand, to develop in us a proper disposition towards the Blessed Sacrament.
In the words of my good friend, you need the letter of the law to grow in knowledge, and the spirit of the law for your soul to grow. If you only have one, you cannot grow and you will become stunted.
Is your spiritual life stunted? Perhaps you should try receiving communion on the tongue, while kneeling for month. If you don’t notice a difference in your attitude toward the most Blessed Sacrament, I’ll buy you dinner.
Oh btw, the Pope says communion on the tongue is all cool. You can tell, he only distributes it that way.
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