The Best Kind of Freedom

As we approach the 4th of July, we Americans turn our hearts and minds again to the notion of freedom. Perhaps, more than any other day in the calendar does American culture reflect on this topic, revel in it, and cherish it. Yet, as mentioned in a previous post, freedom from political and material tyranny is not the most complete freedom we can imagine. Certainly, for any nation that was once the colony or conquered district of another, this freedom that we rightfully celebrate this weekend, this freedom that has been allotted by the noble sacrifice of so many is a good freedom to rejoice in, a good freedom to recognize. Nevertheless, it is not the only freedom of human life. There is still yet a deeper freedom, and the absence of this freedom is perhaps even more treacherous than the absence of the former, for this freedom is the fundamental catalyst for any true political or material freedom, and the tyranny that confronts this deeper freedom is ultimately the foundational tyranny that foments the oppression of civil freedom. And this freedom is nothing other than what the Church calls “a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness” (catechism of the catholic church, n.1731).


It has been said that there is no “neutral” in the gears of human development, particularly the development of the human soul. We are either progressing or regressing. We are either becoming more or we are reducing ourselves to less. There is no pause. True freedom, then, subsists in enjoying a constant motion of “becoming,” a constant progression of being more “in truth and goodness” than we were before. But contrary to the thoughts of some, we cannot achieve this on our own. If we could, the human race would have perfected itself long ago. We are imperfect and limited. For us, the good is easily misunderstood and our freedom easily abused. Only one who is infinitely good, devoid of any flaw or imperfection, can provide the assistance we need, assistance that is wholly reliable and perfectly ordered toward the good. Only a God who supremely possesses the freedom to “be good” (because goodness is the essence of his nature) can direct us and avail to us the aids in the expansion of our freedom to mature in goodness and fully “be” human. It is for this reason that the Church insists that human freedom “attains its perfection when directed toward God.” (catechism, n. 1731) As He who alone knows perfectly the genuine freedom of abiding in goodness and truth, by His grace “the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom” (catechism, n.1742).

Humanity is oriented toward being fulfilled in what is good. We sense it with all of our being – we were made to “dwell” within goodness. When we experience the good, we are satisfied. When we experience an absence of good, we feel as if violence has been done to the welfare of our very essence. We long for the good, and once we find it, we experience it as a liberty of the soul. This is especially the case when the good (or evil) is done by us. “The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes” (catechism, n.1733). More than any other freedom, this is the freedom we long for the most – the freedom to grow and be perfected in goodness and truth, which is nothing other than the freedom to experience our humanity at its fullest. Go to the Lord, receive His Spirit in the sacraments, and enroll in the school of true freedom.