What is Legalism?

[Neithan]

What is the Catholic understanding of legalism? I was accused of being a “Legalist” by my Protestant family (only my Dad is Catholic, but lapsed) because I insisted on going to Mass on Sunday, when they all wanted to go to the lake for the day. Is strict obedience to the laws of the Church - even when it inconveniences our loved ones - legalistic?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

What is the Catholic understanding of legalism? I was accused of being a “Legalist” by my Protestant family (only my Dad is Catholic, but lapsed) because I insisted on going to Mass on Sunday, when they all wanted to go to the lake for the day. Is strict obedience to the laws of the Church - even when it inconveniences our loved ones - legalistic?

It would be to me in a sense when someone is more concerned about a law or rule then what is morally correct. In other words agreeing to drive someone to an abortion appointment if your a volunteer with a medical transportation service, because it is their choice and legally provided. Instead of refusing to participate in any way.

So in answer to your question does following the law or rule about Mass prevent you from doing what is morally correct?

 

[DebChris]

Sometimes following a rule or law will be inconvenient. It is “inconvenient” at times to sit at a stop light when there is no traffic coming.
What is more important, the law itself or the spirit of the law? How do you grow in faith without attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist? We often talk about the “Sunday obligation” as if it were somehow a negative experience to go to Mass.
Your non-Catholic friends and family members may point to scriptural passages in which Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for their emphasis on the letter of the law, their nitpicking about whether or not a person washed his/her hands before eating. Jesus dared to heal on the Sabbath, a day when a person was called to refrain from work.

I would like to use a different example than that used by Bro Rich.
You are on the way to Mass when there is a car accident. The legalist would keep going in order to make it to Mass on time. See the story about the Good Samaritan where the legalists continued on their way. Only the Good Samaritan stopped and cared for the person on the side of the road.
Doing what is necessary to care for the person(s) involved in the car accident would be an example of following the Law of Love. It would even present a reasonable excuse for missing Mass. Doing good for the casualties of a car accident is not the same as missing a day at the lake because of an “inconvenience.”

 

[Joe_5859]

Simply put, a “legalist” is someone who is more concerned with following the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.

Of course, popularly speaking, many people use this derogatory term for all Catholics simply because we have any set rules at all. This is an improper use of the term. Having rules and following them is not legalistic. Adhering to the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit of the law is legalistic. This is what the Pharisees did. Jesus did not criticize them because they had laws at all but because they followed them at the expense of doing what they were really supposed to do (see Mark 7:9-13).