Leviticus 11:39 "And if any animal of which you may eat dies he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening."

I have to admit, it is often difficult for me to find inspiration in the rules of Leviticus, but I will give this a shot! Why were there so many rules about cleanliness for the Jews? I think the answer is a very practical one - God was leading His people out of Egypt to a new land. They, like most of the world at the time, were not learned in ways of science, diseases, infection, and the like. God was not going to explain all the possible ways disease and illness can begin and spread, that would have taken up all of His valuable time with Moses, and the people would not have understood anyway. So He made prohibitions and ritual cleansing rules that were easy to understand and follow. These rules are not concerned so much with spiritual health, but with the health of the body and the group. We do have an obligation to care for our and others' health, so in that way, the rules are a bit spiritual, but rules like this do not have the same spiritual weight as, for example, the Ten Commandments. When Jesus came, He explained this when the Pharisees asked Him why His apostles ate with unclean hands. He said the things unclean to God are things that come from within, not things we put into our bodies. "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. ... For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." (Matthew 15:11, 19-20)

I think it is good to remember this when we are faced with a rule of the Church with which we don't agree or don't understand. All of God's rules are meant for our betterment. He is more concerned with our spiritual health than our bodily health, but that doesn't mean He not concerned with our bodily health - He's very concerned, and wants us to be well! So when we don't understand something the Church is telling us to do or not do, instead of thinking it makes no sense to us, or the Church is being too nitpicky, we should remember the Jews subject to these ritual cleansing rules. They didn't understand precisely why they had to go through all this, but it was to keep them healthy. Whatever Church rules we don't understand are still there for a reason, and following them will be for our betterment.