Freedom

God is not the enemy of our freedom but it's ground. That is something we ought to relearn in these days. Only love that is almighty can ground a joy that is free from anxiety.----Pope Benedict 16

 

The devil hates our freedom, and therefore, he would try and have us believe that God hates our freedom. Satan tells the world that freedom is to do whatever you want to do. This deception leads to a slavery to the world, sin, and self. Freedom in Christ leads one to liberty, purpose, and a mission of high calling to care for the things of God. The devil knows that our hearts are made for God alone, and that our hearts are restless until they are filled with God. The devil fools us into filling them with selfish pursuits, with greed, lying, drunkenness, sex, money, career, sports, other people, etc... We become slaves to these pursuits and our poor souls hunger for the real Bread of Angels, not the rancid food of ego-drama. We must join with St. Paul who called himself a slave of Jesus Christ. He says it was "for freedom that Christ set us free." St. Paul may have been the most free and fulfilled man in all of scripture. He was detached from the world, and his freedom was in being the servant of Jesus. His life was not his own. Attachment to the world and our fallen nature is anything but freedom, it is a hellish prison of self regard and grasping.

 

wkm

 

St. Paul