The "spirit (?) of the law."

I often hear about living the "spirit of the law" instead of the "letter of the law." When I hear this, it almost ALWAYS in cases where someone does not want to follow the law. It happens a lot in the case of our faith's teaching regarding contraception. You hear, "You already have children. You've fulfilled your obligation and now you can live in the 'spirit' of the law and take the pill, condom, etc."  This position shows a very poor understanding of our faith.

First of all, all law ought to based on truth. Law based on falsehood will lead to disastrous results. We have only to look at laws of racial inequity. There are legions of examples. Even law based on a truth or partial truth can lead to bad laws. We all know that alcohol can be dangerous, even deadly, but prohibition was bad law. The Court's decision to allow abortion was and is a very bad decision.

We believe as Catholics, that God made man and woman to be gifts to each other in a relationship of mutual freedom, respect, openness, fruitfulness and self-donation. A true "spirit" of the law will be to live each of those in continual giving in to Christ. Why would anyone say that they have lived up to their responsibility and now they can live in the "spirit of the law. We've had two or three children. We can quit now and worry about living in the "spirit" of  the law. It is fascinating that fruitfulness is the ONLY area where this is claimed.

There is a way to be very responsible for couple's fertility in marriage. Natural Family Planning is a 99.5% effective method of achieving or postponing children. It takes dedication and wise decisions, but so does all true freedom. There are legitimate reasons for spacing or delaying pregnancy at a particular time. Over the past fifty years the science of Natural Family Planning has developed to the point where it is quite reliable and accurate.

The respectful and mutual appreciation of a spouse's fertility build trust, affection and a spirit of cooperation with the wonderful plan of God's creation. I am including a link to a great web site that gives more information about this gift to the Church and to the world. Check it out.

Gratitude smadatude!!

Roman philosopher Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC) wrote, Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. We may object that love is the greatest, but, there is much truth to gratitude's generative prowess.

Gratitude is a great virtue of freedom. When I am grateful I tend not to cling to this or that. The this or that can be material things. They often have a hold on one because she thinks they will make her happy or at least be in the "in" crowd. In reality they have no power to bring life or happiness. They are immaterial matter which cannot bring joy or peace. They can bring relief or comfort which may help one find a peace, but in the end there is no  power or joy.

Gratitude helps me let go of things such as opinions. Sometimes he will hold on to an opinion because he thinks it gives him power  over another or puts him in a superior position. It does not! A grateful person realizes that all truth comes from God and it leads back to God. Gratitude opens the mind and heart to expand his truth in order to accept more truth.

Many have heard me say that the more you know, the dumber you will become and the smarter you will act. It doesn't seem to make sense. Remember that the more you know, the more you know you don't know and the more grateful you will be for what you do know. Very smart people KNOW there is so much more to learn. They have not and cannot get to all knowledge. Knowing that, they begin to appreciate the vastness of the universe and a spirit of gratitude begins to arise. That gratitude frees them to consider more than what they know before acting and hence act smarter that when they thought they knew enough.

Gratitude, it's a lot more important than we thought.