NEW COMMENTARY ON THE CODE OF CANON LAW
word of God and of the grace-filled sacramental
rites. The scriptures use various images compre
hensible to us to convey some understanding of
this mystery: the Church is the coming of God
's kingdom , his temple, h is sheepfold , the
field where he has planted his vineyard, and so
forth. Interestingly, all such images point toward
some visible and structured reality.
This communi ty, earthly and heavenly at the
same time, has not reached its perfection. It is in
complete and unfinished: it must grow and ex
pand in history. It has an absolute need to reach
out for authentic values. (Values are good things
that can perfect the community, support its life,
and sustain its development.) Law is a specific in
strument in this process; it prompts and binds the
community to strive for its perfection and gives
directions for its progress.
As the Church is of a composite nature, so
is canon law. In it human elements blend with
di v ine gifts. As the Church is incomplete and
unfin ished , so is canon law. That the Church is
always in need of reform, ecclesia semper
reformanda, means that canon law, too, is
permanently in need of review, ius canonicum
semper revidendum.
To gain an even fuller understanding of the
place and role of law in the Church , let us look
at the law's origin, purpose, and nature.
The origin of canon law is both in the human
ity of the Church and in the divine gifts possessed
by the community. Some norm s are born from a
human need for order and ordered operations;
some norms are demanded and generated by di
vine revelation. In each case reason is the operat
ing agent in bringing order into the life of com
munity, that is, reason enlightened by, and united
with , the word of God and energized by divine
grace. In this sense, the definition of Aq uina s
holds: "Law is an ordinance of reason."
The purpo se of canon law is to assist the
Church in fulfilling its task which is to reveal
and to communicate God 's saving power to the
world . Law can help by creating order in the
community, an order that leads to tranquillity
and peace: a good disposition for the
"assembly" to become "light to the nation s."
The law can be also a
teacher to the peopl e, as the Torah once was
: guiding them toward the kingdom.
The nature of canon law reflects the nature of
the Church: it is truly human because the Church
is a human community; it has an affinity with the
divine because it is an integral part of the Church
as sacrament. In the law itself, human prudence
blends with divine wisdom in a close union but
without fusion or confu sion. This complex nature
gives to canon law its incarnational character. Let
this character unfold.
As the visible church is contingent, so is
canon law. Law is meant for this passing
world -wh ile charity remains forever.
Whenever the law pro vides for human needs
(e.g., when it creates struc tures and processes
not defined by revelation), it is bound to reflect
the human qualities of the leg islator, such as
his horizon , his alertness in gather ing
information , his capacity for creative insights,
his ability to form critical judgm ents, his pru
dence in matters practical, his skill in
communi cating a piece of legislation-and so
forth. When the law is implementing divi ne
command s (e.g., concerning the reception of
the sacraments), it has a transcendenta l quality
but it does not carry an immunity from human
fragility. Even when the law gives effect to an
explicit divine precept (e.g., the law that gives
effect to the words of Christ to Peter: "Feed my
sheep"), it remains conditioned by the historical
circumstances of its enactment.
As the Church is changeable and reformable,
so are its laws; some in their substance, some in
their formulation. For this reason, canon law
has the potential for development. In the course of
his tory, changes in the rules often prompted and
guid ed the Church in its own growth and
expansion. A living social body demands
flexible norms. To prevent the onset of rigidity,
dying norms ought to be steadily pruned away
and new ones created as needed. The decision by
the Church to put virtu ally all its laws into one
"code" (imitating a trend among states) has
brought many advantages but also contribu ted
significantly to an increase in rigidity. No
matter how urgent the need for reform is
concerning one subject, it is difficult to intro
duce major changes in a unified code.
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