| | True Freedom | | Editor | | | True Freedom
St Paul is emphatic in saying that faith in Christ makes us free. Sin is slavery because it is rooted in falsity, while the obedience of faith in love is based on truth and results in freedom. In the contemporary world there is a universal demand for more freedom – personal, political and economic. Freedom now-a-days has different connotations and the chief one is understood in the sense of a lack of restraint. That is a form of licentiousness, and not true freedom. It is slavery to one’s selfishness, passion and pride.
During the Lenten period we need to reflect on the true freedom which only Christ can give us. The Christian, who submits himself to the law of love in Christ Jesus, is the one who is truly free, because this freedom is gained by Him by shedding His precious blood on the Cross. |
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We have here what seems to be a paradox. All of us wish to be free, but the only way we can become truly free is by submitting ourselves to Christ by faith, hope and charity. St Paul calls it the “obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5). Jesus expresses this truth in St John’s gospel, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:31-32). So the saint is free and the sinner is a slave.
The Lenten observances are guides which will enable us to open our eyes to the truth of our Christian living and to the malady of our sins which block our vision of truth. Since we are made for God and for truth and for goodness, nothing short of a total commitment to God will really satisfy us. We say with St Augustine: Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.
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