We keep hearing the word "freedom" getting thrown around. We hear about the freedom that is present inside of our nation, the freedom that people want in their individual lives to not be told what to do with their own body, parents probably hear about the freedom that their children desire, we hear about the United States Council of Catholic Bishops and the Fortnight for Freedom, and today we hear Saint Paul speaking to the Galatians concerning freedom. We therefore must ask ourselves what freedom is and what freedom is not. We know in the words of Saint Paul and by proper reason that if we lack freedom we will find ourselves being slaves to something. The catechism states that freedom is "the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude."
From this paragraph from the catechism we can see that our pursuit towards our relationship with God is what brings about our freedom or our lack thereof. We often see our relationship to God in a harmful manner because through laws such as the commandments or the necessity to go to confession our freedom is being pulled away from ourselves and we become slaves. Instead of this harmful understanding of God and religion we should see the true reality of liberation that comes through the living out of the commandments and returning to the mercy of God in the Sacrament of Confession. To live out the commandments is to allow ourselves to become free because we are no longer being kept captive by the weight of the world. In prayer and within our relationship to the sacraments we begin to encounter God more and more and in return slowly remove all that holds us as slaves inside of this life until we are slowly set free in the name of Christ who is perfection itself.
The Evangelist Luke displays the freedom that Christ Himself had entered into by stating: "he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem." Christ fully understood what would await Him within the city of Jerusalem. He understood that this journey to Jerusalem would begin to unfold the reality of the cross to His life. He had the freedom to enter into the city and embrace the cross or to avoid this city and run from His relationship with His Father. He used His freedom to "resolutely determine" that His journey into Jerusalem would not bring about the slavery of death, but instead would open Him up to the freedom of love. If He would of "resolutely determined" to journey away from Jerusalem He would have chosen to become a slave to Himself and would of turned away from the freedom that would be displayed to world upon the cross. From Christ's wounded Hands spread out upon the cross we see the true meaning of freedom where love is both given and received.
In the true meaning of "freedom" we encounter Christ who approaches us with these words: "follow me." These words are not bestowed upon our ears in order for us to remain slaves to the world. Christ's response to each of these people who were concerned with discipleship was to liberate themselves from everything that was holding them back from it. We cannot allow ourselves to be enslaved by the false opinions of the world brought about by our lack of knowledge, laziness, sinfulness, fear, or lack of commitment to the Gospel of Christ. With these words we are not to go back with Elisha to the world, but instead are to embrace the message of Christ out of love. If we are to allow ourselves to truly become free we will never be slaves of any power but will always freely make ourselves servants to our brothers and sisters in the name of Christ. We will join Christ upon the summit of love that is the cross in offering ourselves out of love and by our true discipleship grow towards the freedom of God and away from slavery.
Freedom will never be found without Christ. Christ takes us and leads us towards freedom with His invitation to follow Him. Even if voices come to our ears that proclaim that this is freedom that is being offered we must test it to the image of Christ. To this image we must place the natural order of the world that must be respected in order for true freedom to be found. Life must always be held as sacred because it was given to us by God. Marriage was instituted so that man and woman could join together and become one flesh. The human person is not just mere flesh because we are all temples of the Holy Spirit. Each and every marital act must out of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life. Charity and pastoral care must be shown to all people because we have been transformed through our relationship to Christ. In Christ we will find the true spirit of freedom that will lead us away from the enslavement that comes when natural law is not followed.
This day may each of us grow in our freedom by drawing ourselves towards the beatific vision of God through prayer and our actions. May we be willing to follow after Christ submitting ourselves to Him, so that we can begin to truly be set free from all that enslaves us inside of this world. May we follow after the cross and the perfect offering of love that was bestowed upon the world through our relationship with all those whom we encounter. May we join in prayer during this Fortnight for Freedom that true freedom will be brought into the world instead of the enslavement that comes when we lose the sight of God and begin to act against natural law. Freedom is not something that we invent for ourselves or that the government bestows upon us. Freedom comes to us from God as a gift that is constantly calling each of us back into communion with Him.
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