Day 235: Human Freedom in Salvation (1739-1748)

• It’s Day 235!!

• HUMAN FREEDOM IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION

• Because of sin, our freedom is limited and fallible

• Because of sin, we are not what we should be

• From the very beginning of human history, there is brokenness in our hearts

• IN FACT…

• The word we can use is WRETCHEDNESS

• Paragraph 1739 says, “From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.”

• There are threats to freedom

• There is also grace

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, you are good, and you are God. You are Lord. You are the author of life, and you are the one who gave us freedom. You are the one who made us in your image and likeness so that we could live freely, so that we could use our freedom to love, so that we could use our freedom to be like you. We ask you this day, help us. Help us by your grace. Help us by your constant assistance to choose you, to cling to you, and to live as you. Jesus Christ, you are the Lord of life. Send us your Holy Spirit that we can walk with you as our Lord this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• I hope you are encouraging as much encouragement and consolation, as well as conviction, as Fr. Mike is in reading these words

• IT IS JUST SO INCREDIBLE!!

• Paragraph 1739 says, “Freedom and sin. Man’s freedom is limited and fallible.”

• What are some of the consequences of the Fall?

• DARKENING OF THE INTELLECT

• So we can know, but we don’t know fully

• WEAKENING OF THE WILL

• We can choose, but we do not always choose with strength

• We can love, but we do not always love the right things

• We do not always love the right way

• We are often tempted to USE instead of love

• We can use our freedom for the wrong thing

• Sometimes our freedom is not strong enough to do what we want it to do

• Paragraph 1739 continues, “In fact, man failed. He freely sinned. By refusing God’s plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin.”

• This is Genesis Ch 3, the story of our ancestors 

• And this is OUR OWN STORY

• We can blame Adam and Eve and their choice

• AND YET…

• We can look at ourselves and say, “Ok. I’ve also done that. I’ve also made myself a slave to sin. As often as I’ve chosen sin, I’ve done that to myself. I’ve done to myself what Adam and Eve did to the human race.”

• And so, we failed

• THAT IS JUST SOBERING!!

• Hopefully it is ENCOURAGING as well

• It’s one thing to hear, “There is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect just the way you are.”

• And we look at ourselves and say, “Really? I am? I’m not sure that’s true. And if I’m perfect just the way I am, there’s nothing wrong with me, then there is something wrong with the rest of the world.”

• To be able to hear those encouraging words of MAN FAILED

• I FAILED

• YOU FAILED

• WE FREELY SINNED

• And by doing that, we DECEIVED OURSELVES and became SLAVES TO SIN

• That is our original parents and that is ourselves as well

• Paragraph 1739 continues, “From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.”

• This does not mean that we are wretched by nature

• NOT AT ALL!!

• By our nature, we are still good

• We still retain God’s image

• AND YET…

• That image has been marred

• That image has been broken

• That image has become twisted 

• Our hearts are still good

• That freedom that we still have has become damaged and is now a freedom that has been wounded

• Paragraph 1740 says, “Threats to freedom. The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, ‘the subject of this freedom,’ is ‘an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods.’”

• Freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want

• True freedom is the POWER to do what we OUGHT

• True freedom is the POWER to choose the good

• True freedom is the POWER to choose the right

• True freedom is the POWER to choose the Truth, lie in the Truth, and walk in the Truth

• IT IS SO SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO NEVER FORGET THIS!!

• Paragraph 1740 continues, “Moreover, the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth.”

• Sometimes we hear that word CHARITY and think of GIVING, OFFERING, THE COLLECTION

• NO!!

• CHARITY IS THE DEEPEST FORM OF LOVE!!

• We are going to hear about the moral law again and again

• We might think of the moral law as a limitation on our freedom, a straitjacket rather than a help or guidelines

• Think of the lines on the road that let you know that if you stay between them, you are going to be fine

• You don’t get mad at the lines on the road that indicate “stay here”

• In bad weather, sometimes you can’t see those lines on the road

• And when you can’t see those lines on the road, it is terrifying sometimes

• You don’t know how close you are to the ditch

• You don’t know if there is a car up ahead

• You don’t know where you are

• To not have those lines or guardrails is not a feeling of exhilaration in the sense of freedom and fun

• IT IS AN EXPERIENCE OF FEAR AND TERROR!!

•  “By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth.”

• THAT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR US!!

• By INTERIORIZE Fr. Mike means to be able to put yourself in that place 

• What if you could not see the lines on the road and you had no idea in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snowstorm, if you were even on the road or how close you are to the cliff?

• God’s moral law is not a straitjacket

• God’s moral law gives us the ability to LIVE WITH FREEDOM AND JOY

• Paragraph 1741 says, “Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. ‘For freedom Christ has set us free.’ In him we have communion with the ‘truth that makes us free.’ The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’ Already we glory in the ‘liberty of the children of God.’”

• It’s not about white-knuckling it for the rest of our lives (For our international brothers and sisters, it’s time I explained this term ‘white-knuckling’...it is the term used to describe the process of fighting or powering through a situation you find anxiety-inducing. Imagine yourself on a scary roller coaster or riding with someone who drives like a maniac and how tight you may hold onto the bar in your lap or the seat in front of you 😃)

• NO!!

• God’s grace has been poured into our hearts

• Paragraph 1742 says, “Freedom and grace. The grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trials, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world…”

• That grace does not take away our free will

• This is a really important question

• Is it free will or is it God’s grace?

• We know that we can’t choose good and we can’t do good without God’s help

• Jesus made it very clear

• HE IS THE VINE

• WE ARE THE BRANCHES

• APART FROM JESUS WE CAN DO NOTHING!!

• So we NEED God’s grace

• AT THE SAME TIME…

• The grace of Jesus is not in the slightest way a rival to our freedom

• Having God’s grace does not overwhelm our freedom

• Having God’s grace does not take away our freedom

• BUT…

• IT CORRESPONDS WITH OUR FREEDOM!!

• God’s grace gives us the capacity and the ability to do what we want to do, to do what we ought to do

• God’s grace gives us the POWER to do what we could never do on our own

• God’s grace is NOT A RIVAL to human freedom

• God’s grace is a NECESSITY for human freedom

• WE WANT TO GROW IN INNER FREEDOM!!

• We want to GROW IN CONFIDENCE during trials

• We experience this the more and more DOCILE we are to the Holy Spirit

• We experience this the more and more OPEN we are to doing what God reveals and calls us to do

• Paragraph 1748 says, “‘For freedom Christ has set us free.’”

• It’s from Galatians 5:1

• WHAT GREAT NEWS!!

• That’s what Jesus did on the Cross for us

• That is what Jesus did in conquering death and rising from the dead

• That is what Jesus did in pouring out His Holy Spirit

• IT IS FOR FREEDOM!! Braveheart - They can take our lives, but they will never take our freedom

• Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom, Christ set us free. So do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” 

• DO NOT GO BACK TO SIN!!

• St. Paul said in Galatians, “Therefore, because Christ set us free, do not return to your sin. Do not, once again, submit to the yoke of slavery because you and I are not made to be slaves.”

• There are those of us who may feel like slaves to sin

• They keep falling back into sin and don’t know what to do

• DO NOT GIVE UP!!

• GOD’S GRACE IS FOR YOU!!

• GOD’S GRACE IS AVAILABLE!!

• GOD’S GRACE TRULY IS ENOUGH!! Your Grace Is Enough - Matt Maher (with lyrics) Praise The Lord Jesus Christ!

• DO NOT GIVE UP!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!