March 3, 2005

What if the government made seat belts, stop signs, and speed limits illegal? What if all the traffic lights were dismantled and painted lines mysteriously disappeared overnight? How about if all the steel guard rails, especially on dangerous mountain roads, were replaced with Styrofoam? Now the big question: would you be excited or anxious about embarking on a cross-country road trip? To get a sensible answer, there would be no need to e-mail the experts at AAA; simply ask a six-year-old!

There are some things we simply need if we are going to make it through life – like rules and regulations. While there are anarchists who protest against anything that limits their freedom, thank God, they are few and far between. Yes, even a six-year-old knows that "liberty" does not always exclude "law".

As there is by necessity rules for the road, so too as one travels though life, there must be rules that restrain and regulate human behavior. Only anarchists and adolescents believe these to be useless. Now, while we know this opinion is both stupid and silly, we sometimes quietly apply the same principles of "freedom" to spiritual things. This type of thinking gives birth to a religion without rules. It is of interest to note that the very word "religion" comes to us from Latin; it literally means, "To be bound". Yes, driving cross- country in total "freedom", and religion without rules is not only dopey, but also dangerous.

Perhaps even I, a Christian and not an anarchist, would wish it were otherwise. To have a Bible without any "bite" and to read only God’s word which comforts and consoles is enticing indeed! However, such is happily not the case! The invisible God comes to us in the flesh. His body has bones – and He bleeds. The Immortal, Immutable, Eternal God enters into time and space. He is conceived in an all-holy womb, born in a smelly stable, placed in a manger with scratchy straw, raised in a humble house in a back-water town, and spends much of his adult life sweating and straining with manly labor. Then, when His time finally comes, He goes – to preach, teach, heal and bring hope. Then there's the price for it all – the whip, the whistles, the punches and the pushes; next, the thorns, the nails, and at last, the lance.

While there is a part of me which would like total "freedom" and a "fluffy" religion, my head and heart says, "no". If I'm to get to my final destination, with all the dangerous twists and turns in life, I need a solid road that is hard as rock. I need some clear messages like large, blood red Stop signs! I want immovable guardrails tough as granite! Finally, I need - and have - a Guide who not only knows the way, but who calls Himself "The Way".

Now, that's real religion! Don't believe me? Ask a six-year old!

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Community Servant, residing at St. Felix Friary in Yonkers, New York

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