Freedom in Christ: 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time Reflection

As the Independence Day observances come and go, we must take time to understand what true freedom is. God does a sens of humor for this Sunday's readings especially from the Gospel of Luke. 

In many countries, freedom is in the guise of tyrannical coercion favoring one group over another. Even in the United States, it is being emulated to the point of never understanding what true freedom is.

Ronald Reagan remarked that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” Indeed, the freedom that America fought for must continue to be with growing threats.

Meanwhile, there is true freedom that can never be taken away and that is one found through Christ.

Pier Frassati tells us that true freedom, “isn't the absence of constraints, but rather the power to choose the good and fulfill one's potential as a child of God.” This man of the beatitudes believes that when we choose God through faith, hope, and love, we become a child of God, a faithful follower.

We have the freedom to do what pleases God.  But God wants us to be free to follow him

In Luke’s gospel, Christ sent 72 disciples to go and proclaim his kingdom. They returned to him, reporting what happened when they preached in his name.

It is through Christ that he breaks the chains of sin. It is through him that we are truly free from sin, guilt, and shame.

We get this freedom when we boast in nothing but the cross of Christ. True freedom is found through Christ’s crucifixion. Through it, all of us were saved by passion, death, and resurrection.

Let us walk with Christ if we truly want to be free.