Rules for Our Good

by Fr. Jess Ty  |  08/23/2026  |  Weekly Reflection

Dear Family of God,

Have you ever heard that someone say that the Catholic Church is just a bunch of rules and regulations, do’s, and don’ts, it is against freedom?

G.K. Chesterton says: “Catholic doctrines and disciplines may be walls, but they are walls of a playground. Freedom exists only within a rule. The greatest act of freedom is obedience, not disobedience; breaking the rules does not make us happy and certainly does not make us free.”

God’s rules are for our good, not to restrict us but to protect us. That is how the truth makes us free. G.K.C. says: “While the Church has established rule and order, the chief aim of that order is to give room for the good to run wild.”

How do we know the truth? It is either by Human Reason or Divine Revelation (Faith) or both, by reason and faith. Who or what is the source of truth? “You should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth” (1Tim. 3:15). “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the Traditions that you were taught, either by oral statement or by letters of ours” (2Thes. 2:15). The source of truth is not only the Bible, but both the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the Church Magisterium.

May the blessed Virgin Mary, guide us to the Truth, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yours in Christ through Mary Immaculate.