Jim Morrison, #synod14, and Living Life on the Hedge

I remember hearing a radio documentary about Doors frontman Jim Morrison many years ago. One of his bandmates kept saying approvingly, “Jim was a guy who lived life on the edge.” And he did; but it was the edge of a cliff, and eventually he fell over the edge and died young. And I wondered, “Why is living on the edge supposed to be a good thing?” Decades later, I’m still wondering.

But last week’s Synod on the Family discussions got me thinking. One of the themes of the Synod is the need to be merciful to those in irregular living situations who want to live in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Some bishops seemed to be in favor of giving them carte blanche, providing as much mercy as possible; others were more restrained, sometimes to the point of stinginess. In his closing address, Pope Francis rebuked both ends of the spectrum: both those who, in their “mercy”, tell the still wounded that they are all better, and those who care more for the dry letter of the law than the wounded people in front of them.

And that got me to thinking about hedges. In Judaism, there’s this notion of building a “hedge” around the Law. You never want to break the Law, even by accident; and so some Jews voluntarily try to live with a more stringent condition than the law requires. Even if sometimes they accidentally fail to meet that more stringent condition, they aren’t likely to break the real Law. (I believe the requirement to use two sets of dishes, one for milk and one for meat, comes under this heading, but I Am Not A Rabbi.) The more stringent requirement is called a hedge, because it keeps you away from the Law like a hedge keeps you away from whatever is inside it.

It seems to me that we Catholics sometimes do the same thing…except that we apply it to other people. We see people in irregular situations, and when we discuss solutions, we act as though it’s our job to keep them from sinning (i.e., by receiving the Eucharist unworthily). Any solution that doesn’t preclude them from sinning altogether we reject. (Someone may call this a strawman, but I’ve seen it in print over the last week.) We build hedges around the Law for them.

Unfortunately, sometimes those hedges are also hedges around the Church. The hedges not only keep them from receiving the Eucharist unworthily, but also discourage them from seeking it.

It seems to me that living life on the Hedge comes from fear of not being forgiven. It seems to me that we should trust in Christ, and live life right up to the edge of Law, the better to save souls. If we go over the edge, we have to confess and be forgiven. We have to be clear (and communicate clearly) just where that edge is. And we have to move right on up to it, because there are people just on the other side who need our help.