"Please Disobey God"?

If you saw a police officer break the rules, how would you feel? This is an issue, especially today when there is such a public concern about officers overstepping their boundaries (whether they actually do or not, is another story). Let us imagine that the officer was breaking the rule in your behalf (letting you off with only a warning, when he should have been more harsh). Now let us imagine that the officer was breaking the rule on someone else's behalf, and that person was someone you did not like. Would that make your response different?

It will, of course, make a difference if someone is breaking a rule in your favor or against it. For most people today, they would be quite upset if it were done for someone they did not like, but happy if it were they themselves. It is in our (fallen and sinful) nature to have this kind of response. Now let us twist the picture a bit. If a Priest broke the rules in your behalf, what would be your response? If his breaking of the rules led to you being in grave sin, then could we really say it was "in your behalf"? No; and that is exact issue that I am aiming at.

If a Priest obeys the rules of the Church, he is not doing something to harm you. If a Priest disobeys the rules of the Church, even if he means well, it is going to lead to you being harmed. Would you ever really say to a Priest, "Please disobey God for me", or, "Would you break your ordination vows?" For someone to get upset at a Priest because he refused to break the rules, and portray it as though he were doing something wrong, is--there is only one way to say this clearly--evil. Someone may get upset at a Priest for breaking the rules, but no one should take offense at obedience. Only a selfish and self-willed soul will go down that road.

Think about this, and think well about it. The laws of God are not always easy, and sometimes obedience to them leads to persecution and suffering. Yet, disobedience to our Lord and His Church, although it may lead to a temporary happiness for someone, never leads to eternal joy. To be upset at someone (anyone) for doing what they were responsible to do is a self-serving attitude. Let us each look closely at our motivations and see whether we truly do respect what is right, or if we are just pursuing our own selfish desires.