Word of the Week

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Freedom: freo (O.E.): meaning “free, exempt, not in bondage”, or “noble, joyful”, along with it stands an old Germanic and Celtic term which conveys beloved friend and child. Furthermore , the Hebrew Hosannah, meaning, “deliver us” , was the Israelite liturgical battle cry that preempted the freedom of the Hebrew people.

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to perform deliberate actions in one's own responsibility. By free will , the individual forms one's identity (CCC 1731 ). Human freedom is a force for maturation in the goodness that belongs to God; it attains the heights of perfection when humbly serving the glory of Christ and the Trinitarian life of God. Human history has attested to the capacity of man to choose evil, which is ultimately the basis for praise or blame, merit or reproach (CCC 1721, 1732, 1739).

The word freedom is found 10 times in the Old Testament and 8 times in the New Testament. In Israelite antiquity, freedom was linked with the Exodus: the great liberation of the people of Israel from the yoke of slavery at the hands of Ramses II. Freedom was synonymous with gratitude and thanksgiving, because it was the Passover meal (Ex.12), the thanksgiving meal commemorating the great departure, in which the Israelite people would exercise their purpose for the freedom given to them--the purpose of worship. The Christian reality of freedom in the NT is built upon the foundation that we are no longer bound by slavery to sin, but through Baptism, we have received new life in Christ (cf. 1 Cor.7:21; 2 Cor.3:17; Gal.2:4; 2 Pet.2:19) to become a new creation (2 Cor.5:17; Gal.6:15). Freedom is the capacity to see all things in light of God. For example, In the case of Christ healing the blind man at the pool of Siloam (Jn.9), we encounter a man who receives his vision to see earth in light of heaven, time in light of eternity, and being in light of worship. Therefore, the biblical vision of freedom is one that is rooted in becoming a new creation to worship and be in communion with God.

Freedom has arguably been the most misinterpreted and misguided phenomenon that has shaped American popular culture. Freedom is not an end in itself whereby we are licensed to do what we please creating a culture of death, but rather a means to an end where we are charged to do what we ought creating a culture of life. Freedom, the greatest gift given to us from God the Father, is rooted in love and directs us to becoming more like Love (1 Jn.4.16), as children of God. Therefore, freedom finds its prism in obedience to the Father who calls us “to participate in his divine nature” (2 Peter 1.4). It is there where we find the nobility of true joy!

“A clean heart is a free heart. A free heart can love Christ with an undivided love.”

--Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Primary Texts Consulted

• Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.

 

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