Freedom

Freedom is the hope and desire of every human heart. The heart longs for it, and the soul thrives upon it. Yet, the freedom the soul seeks is not the freedom that is popularly thought of, that license to do whatever we please. No, that is not true freedom but merely the absence of restriction upon our whims. We know this is not yet full freedom, because even when it is allotted (even if for but a moment) we still yearn for something beyond it. We yearn for a freedom to experience more deeply, to exist more boldly, to “be” more completely. We desire for a freedom of utter consolation of the soul, a freedom that quells that “inner battle” within the self, a freedom to possess ourselves more securely and without the fragmentation that we so often experience within ourselves. True freedom, complete freedom, is not merely the deliverance from an external oppression or constraint. No, true freedom, lasting freedom, is an internal liberty.


And so it is that the scriptures from this past Sunday proclaim, “for freedom Christ set us free.” (Gal 5:1). This statement seems odd at first – of course Christ set us free for freedom; what else does one intend in liberating another? But St. Paul’s point is this: Christ set us free so that we might remain free, that we may lastingly reside within freedom. But, again, it is not the freedom from an external oppressor that St. Paul speaks of. Such freedom is ephemeral – it comes and it goes. Rather, St. Paul speaks of a more enduring freedom, a freedom that strikes at the heart more powerfully and consoles the soul more fully. It is, as St. Paul goes on to say, the freedom to “live by the Spirit.” (Gal 5:13,25) This is what some call “the freedom of excellence.” It is that freedom whereby God apportions a share in His own life so that He becomes for us a more intimate guide to our soul, taking residence within it, and empowering it to be more fully alive than before. Rather than a liberty “from” something, it is a liberty “to” something, a liberty to grow, a liberty to become, a liberty to experience a fuller human life.

The incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of the Father opened for us the possibility that our lives, still amid the trials and imperfections of this world, might be more vibrantly exposed and unified with God’s life from within and that all Christ enjoyed in his own holy humanity, we too might share. The Saints of the Church are not those who distanced themselves from their humanity and relinquished their freedom in the name of God – they are those who experienced their humanity more fully than before because they continuously accepted God’s offer to mature in goodness and divine life. This is the highest freedom, for this is the freedom to be near God and like God. This is the freedom that every heart desires. This is the freedom that alone will satisfy us. And we will search for it wherever we go until we find it. The Saints are those who found it and lived the freest human lives, because once they discovered that freedom they clung to it without reserve.