A higher law

All of us run afoul of the law at some point or another, even if it’s as minor as a parking ticket. Laws, religious or secular, are there to set standards and impose order. They have their purpose, but if we hope to be released from all that afflicts us in this life, we’ll need a different kind of law—the law of love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. As 20th-century monk and mystic Thomas Merton explains, "The first obligation of the Christian is to maintain their freedom from all empty forms of legalism" and "live by a higher law—the law of grace and love." Let faith lead you there.