What Does Freedom Mean To Me?

Everyone values freedom.  But what does freedom mean to a Catholic?  Let us take a closer look.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) has this to say about Freedom :

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility. By free will one shapes one’s own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude (CCC 1731).

God has given Man Free Will when He created him.  We are free to choose which way we want to go.  If it is as per God’s will we are assured of happiness and salvation and if it is against God’s will we can expect the opposite result.  Right from Genesis, when we see Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and facing the consequences of their actions, the Bible spells out so many instances of us of freedom of choice.

How do we make the right choice then, for any matter before us, as we are free to make the decision?

We can look at the Scriptures for guidance on what to do.

Let us take a look at Mt 8:23-27

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

We have a lot to learn from analysing this passage on what should our approach be as we face Life’s storms.  Surely the initial approach of the disciples was not one of those who understood the Lord, as they were afraid of the terror of circumstances which they could not control humanly.  Most of them were experienced fishermen surely, and the sea was something they were used to and depended on for a livelihood yet the waves must have been so great as to terrify them.

The scene can be visualized by looking at images online of this very scene painted by the famous painter Rembrandt.  This was in fact the only seascape he ever painted in 1633. It depicts the terror of the disciples and the absolute calm of Jesus.  This painting was on display in the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston, Massachusetts from where it was stolen in 1990 and unfortunately never recovered to this day.

It is worthwhile to think about what would we have done. If we were like the disciples in the boat along with Jesus and He was resting after all his hard work, answering His opponents, teaching his disciples, casting demons, working miracles etc. He must have been in such a deep slumber that even the mighty waves splashing water over the boat and the violent rocking of the boat did not wake Him.  Would we have woken Him up to calm the waters? What would we have done?

It is surprising to note that one of the great contemplatives and a doctor of the Church, and the author of The Story of a Soul, who died at age 24, a Carmelite nun, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux chose to mediate on this scene whenever she faced the numerous storms in her life and chose not to wake Jesus up. She imagined her soul as the boat being tossed around by the uncertainties of life, and Jesus was sleeping beside her in the boat.  She resolved not to wake Him up with her needless worries and anxieties as He is always present even when He seems asleep and absent.

Her life inspired many missionaries.  It is paradoxical to think of this great Saint, who could not be the missionary she desired because of her illness, but her brief life in the Convent actually inspired countless Missionaries as she become a patron Saint of missionaries.  She had found true freedom in her life due to her total and absolute trust in the Lord.

We can also have true freedom in our lives today, no matter what the challenges we face, if we adopt the attitude of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.   Those desperate moments in our lives when we call out for help to Him as we don’t know what to do next, let us not worry or wake Him up, He is with us always.

Freedom is possible when we trust that the Lord is with us always and we do what he wants us to do.

One of the best expressions of what Freedom means to a Christian was expressed by Holy Father, Pope Francis while addressing school students of Italy and Albania in 2013. He said,

What do I mean by Freedom? Perhaps it is thought that freedom means doing everything one likes, or seeing how far one can go by trying drunkenness and overcoming boredom. This is not freedom. Freedom means being able to think about what we do, being able to assess what is good and what is bad, these are the types of conduct that lead to development; it means always opting for the good. Let us be free for goodness. And in this do not be afraid to go against the tide, even if it is not easy! Always being free to choose goodness is demanding but it will make you into people with a backbone who can face life, people with courage and patience.

Let us reflect on these wise words of the Holy Father. The keys to inner freedom are within us and our guides are the Bible, the Catholic teachings, and studying the lives of the great Saints who walked this earth before us with True Freedom like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.