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This episode of Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner reminds us that we are not alone in our relationship with God.\xa0 We are not alone in the Church.\xa0 And so we need to know how to get along with each other in the Church.\xa0 That\u2019s why God, through the Fathers of the Church, gave all Christians rules to follow.\xa0 These Church rules are called Canon Law.\xa0\xa0

The Lord is the Master Builder of the kingdom of God.\xa0 Canon law provides a blueprint.\xa0 It is not the kingdom itself but a way to best bring the different elements together in proper order and place.\xa0 Sometimes people need to be told what to do for their own good.\xa0 Following the regiment of Canon Law thus keeps the Church from generations to generation strong as family.

Christian duty involves action toward the whole Church, the whole world, your whole family and to yourself.\xa0 In the commandments and the precepts you see the basic understanding of duty.\xa0 In 1913 and 1983, when the Church took a fresh look at the Church Fathers they then called to mind the duties of the clergy and the duties of the laity. Up until this century, the canon law of the Catholic Church was scattered over a wide variety of texts and collections.

The Catechism reminds us that Christians are not \u2018lone wolf\u2019 followers of Jesus Christ, but part of a community of believers who become a member through faith in Christ and Baptism.\xa0 We are family.\xa0 We are a family that needs rules, and the grace to keep them!