True freedom begins in humility. That might sound strange because it would seem that the truly free may boldly go and do wherever and whatever they they may want. That is not true freedom; that is unbridled action.
A great example of where freedom begins is in the writings of one who understood this truth well — Howard Phillip (H.P.) Lovecraft.
The theme of his famous story The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward is that we are free to do anything we may want, but some things should not be done. The true freedom is found in understanding the difference.
This is why freedom begins in humility because the humble person will understand that need to seek wisdom for true liberty to be expressed in its fullness. The ‘free persons’ without wisdom will be imprisoned by their ‘freedom.’ The humble will seek wisdom to experience freedom in the most powerful way and to its greatest limit, if there is such a thing.
Choosing to celebrate my freedom by saying anything I want to say and allowing people to celebrate my boldness is nothing more than me acting as a wolf among sheep and encouraging the sheep to see me as one of them. It is the beginning of my own dictatorship where I will allow people to express their freedom any way they want, provided that they express it, boldly. I can then define for them the meaning of freedom and they will celebrate me, thinking that they are truly free because of me. However, they are subjects of my dictatorship of how I define freedom. I could convince them to express their freedom by jumping off a mountain and they would obey, convinced that they found true freedom by doing it. Many dictatorial cult leaders do exactly that.
True freedom revolves around the ability to say and do anything I want guided by the wisdom to know what is truly an act freedom for me and others.
Many years ago, a local museum planned to show a controversial photographic exhibit. Many did all they could to have the government cancel it. I supported the display. When attempts to silence the exhibit failed, someone invited me to go see it with him. I chose not to go and this shocked him. “You, of all people, are not going?”
I explained that the issue was not whether or not it should be shown, but whether I have to have a government tell me what I should and should not see. I have the freedom to make my own choices and I do not have to prove anything to anyone in a truly free society nor do I have to have a government impose its morality upon my life. I never saw the exhibit. That choice is consistently mine.
Christianity has always been criticized for limiting freedom, but it only limits freedom when one follows Christ by obeying convention. The truly free followed Christ, sought to do His will and discovered true freedom there, by seeking divine wisdom.
A great teaching of many of the saints is that even those who fall into sin, but seek the wisdom of Christ, will find the fullness of freedom in Christ because by their own choice they will turn from sin. Those who turn from sin out of fear are not acting in true freedom. Those who turn from sin out of love of Christ are making their own free choice.
The saints are truly free for they act not out of obedience to convention but obedience to Christ which at times goes against convention. Even when they sinned, they chose to take that as an opportunity to grow in holiness by repenting of the sin, sometimes many times over. But they were always on the path to freedom. They did what they chose to do out of love of Christ, maybe through his Church, but not strictly because that was what they were supposed to do.
Giovanni Bernardone, known today as St Francis, committed one of the most free acts in protest to his father who brought him to court. A former crusader, Francis had a complete change of heart. He decided to do what he could for the poor by giving away his father’s clothing merchandise to most destitute. His father sued demanding that he return everything. Francis in protest removed his clothes in the courtroom as a sign of complying to his father’s demand. He then walked out. It was a completely free act, whether or not it was the right thing to do is another question. However, the act was completely free.
Today many would see this as a criminal act and he would be condemned by local and national media who control freedom by following the cult leader model above. They define for people, quite poorly, the meaning of freedom.
We have a calling to live by the wisdom of Christ which leads to true freedom. It teaches us the difference between living in true freedom or living as a foolish sheep. This does not mean that we live by convention even in our parishes. We live by freedom. That freedom comes only from knowing Christ and doing his will for he wants us to know true freedom that no human institute fully understands.
It is in our worship that we meet people on various levels of the quest for freedom. The one who discovers true freedom realizes that no matter what is going on around us, if we seek to do the will of Christ and we seek his guidance and grace, we will find true freedom. It is a lifetime journey to reach the depth of this understanding and, on the way, we will discover newer paths deeper into the quest for freedom which we find in Christ.
Never forget that path we take led by Christ is one in which we must follow Him for he is leading us through the valley of death (cf Psalm 23.) If I use my alleged freedom to go my own way, I walk off the path and find myself alone or even with others in the valley of death. If I use my freedom to trust Christ and continue to follow him, I will make it through the valley of death alive and truly free. The choice is ours.
Photo: Bunker Hill Monument. Bunker Hill Day, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts between 1890 and 1901. Publisher: Detroit Publishing Co. Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. https://www.loc.gov Public Domain.
Recent Comments