Reflection for Friday, February 23, 2018

Friday of the First Week of Lent
EZ 18:21-28
PS 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7A, 7BC-8
MT 5:20-26

I am good at following directions. Instead of holding me back, rules and plans help me stay focused and thrive with whatever I am doing.I think it’s fair to say that there is a balance somewhere between rules and freedom, between holding people closely to set standards and welcoming them regardless of what they may have done.

The Catholic Church is composed of many traditions and standards that followers are called to align themselves with. Sometimes, I really like these rules. Other times, however, I’m not sure how to reconcile the rules and standards of the Church with the way I believe all people should be treated. It hurts me when certain family members can’t receive communion because they’ve been divorced or when my female friend doesn’t feel comfortable attending mass because she has a girlfriend.

I wonder a lot about what we lose when we hold people to rules that don’t bend or reflect the intricateness of human existence. What do we lose when we forgo the rules? What do we gain? Who feels welcome and who does not? And in the same way, when we do hold people to certain ideas and standards, what do we achieve or preserve and what do we lose? Both of these ways of thinking open and close doors to different individuals. The question becomes, as a Church, as people of God, who do we open doors to? What are we willing to give up to ensure that certain doors stay open?

In today’s reading, we’re given two people: one who always follows the rules but strays from the path and one who never followed the rules but becomes virtuous at the end. In this reading, I think it’s obvious that God intended for the Church to be a place of open doors, regardless of past sins or decisions. When you are ready to enter, God has a seat waiting for you. This could be interpreted as a lack of standards or a “bending of the rules”. What if this formerly un-virtuous person is divorced? Or transgender? Or had an abortion? What does that mean for the Church? What does that mean for the person who “follows” the rules?

To me, the Lenten season is a time of reflecting on how we grow close to God and how we push God away. I’ve always believed that I grow closer to God when I love and support others (and myself). I also believe that the Catholic Church is meant to be a place of open doors, a place where quite literally everyone is welcome. This Lent, I’ve chosen to try to always respond to others with compassion (including myself). I truly believe we gain more when we bend the rules and accept every sinner from every place than we do when we shut the doors and promote certain “standards” that in fact do nothing but create shame and fear.

Mary is a Junior studying political science.