By Fr. Glenn Jones:

It’s always rather an adventure driving between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, especially on weekdays when commuter traffic is particularly heavy–cars flying past the poor slob who obeys the speed limit, often receiving for his lawfulness a one-fingered wave in thanks (“Oh, how awful; the fingers on each side of that middle one have been amputated! Poor fellow.”) And, of course, there are far too few resources for police to enforce speed limits strictly, so many go rocketing on their merry Doppler-shifting speeds fearlessly and virtually unhindered. (BTW, a favorite red bumper sticker of mine: “If this appears blue, you’re going too fast!”) 

And, of course, mob behavior (not to mention survival instinct) kick in, and soon we find ourselves speeding enough to at least not get creamed from behind. After all, few things sharpen a driver’s attention more than seeing the grill of a semi rapidly fill the rear-view mirror. (“Look at all those dead bugs; just shameful!”)

Because of the scarce enforcement resources, people know that they can fudge the speed limit a little bit (or a lot). The same could be said in a more general sense to a lot of things–taxes, lying, stealing, etc., especially now when some municipalities and stores around the country state explicitly that they’ll not prosecute shoplifting, resulting in an immediately sharp escalation in such occurrences. You want to ask sardonically: “Golly-gee, what did you think would happen?” Where laws and rules do not exist, chaos and anarchy raise their ugly heads. And now we hear of flash gangs raiding and looting stores with impunity. How long will it be until they venture to do the same in neighborhoods? The thieves simply presume that they will not be held to account.

Ah, good ol’ presumption; a trap we bait for ourselves. Because of our understanding that we can “fudge” laws in the temporal realm and not necessarily be held to account, religious persons start fudging laws in the spiritual and moral realm as well. But can we?

Yet, Christians (and other especially monotheistic faiths) believe that God has literally perfect enforcement, even though “prosecution” and judgment is delayed until after this life. After all, does not Jesus tell us: “… even the hairs of your head are all numbered,” (Matthew 10:29-31), and “… on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter…” (Matthew 12:36) And all throughout the scriptures there is the theme confirmed even towards the end of the final book: “… the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done,” ending with a dire warning: “If anyone’s name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20: 12, 15). Is this not in accord with Jesus’ teaching: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” ((Matthew 7:21) 

“Priest, you’re just trying to scare people with your hokey myths!!” No, not really; but we are all given that choice of doing what is right and good … or not. Are we not told as children not to put our hands on the stove? Violate that law, and you’ll get burned. That’s not an empty threat, but rather simply the unfortunate and foreseeable consequence of an action. But there’s no “might” to it; put your hand on a red-hot burner and it’s gonna’ get burnt.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand right and wrong; it is built into what we Catholics call the “natural law” – the image of God imprinted in us when He forms us. Do we not see something of the painter in his work … the sculptor in the images he carves? All peoples have the basic understanding of right and wrong, e.g., that lying, cheating and stealing is wrong, especially within one’s own family group.

Likewise with our own neglect of God’s instruction and commandments, which is by definition “the good”, because one who is all good can produce only that which is good. As the ancient philosophers say: one can only give what one has. Certainly Christians are not exempt from human frailty–falling from that which is good by willful wrongful surrender to passions striking them in the moment. Passions are not bad, by the way; they attract us to the good: food for sustenance, procreation, rest, industry, etc. It’s only when our actions are beyond the bounds of moral reasonability explicitly taught by God do they become immoral and, in Christian terms, sinful: gluttony, adultery, covetousness, greed, sloth, etc. Even pagan philosophers understood this, such as with the “Golden Mean” of Aristotle–virtue often lying between two extremes of vices, such as courage being “the mean” between cowardice and recklessness.

Fortunately, while God notes every action and word, He also is the most merciful of judges … the most loving of fathers. Yes, Christians believe that Jesus took the punishment of human sins upon himself, ransoming us from eternal death … IF we seek to do the good in our lives. That’s not always easy; it takes constant reinforcement to make virtues force of habit: to do good and to avoid evil almost reflexively, a “muscle-memory” for the conscience. 

We who have been sufficiently evangelized realize the truth and goodness of Christ, and to follow Him is to follow the good as well as to seek to teach others of the same by our words and actions. He commands us: “… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20)

So, O Christian, remember your commission. When we stand “before the throne”, even with the great mercy He will undoubtedly show His faithful, will we not weep for every transgression we’ve done against His absolute goodness–each a strike of the hammer upon the nails … a pang in Our Father’s heart? Let us, then, remember and live St. Paul’s admonition: “… since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [of saints and angels], let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.