THINKING ABOUT FREEDOM (PART 1) - OBEDIENCE IS THE BEGINNING OF FREEDOM
Some people say “I don’t want Jesus and his commands... It is restrictive, all these regulations. I want to be free.”
What they do not know is that if we live by the Word of God, we are free to enjoy life. The precepts of the Lord give us freedom.
Here’s an analogy from Nicky Gumbel (of Alpha):
"Some years ago, when my eldest son was eight years of age, they used to play football on Clapham Common. And they had their regular football during the year. Andy Busk was their coach, and he was the referee.
And I remember one time at the end of term they’d arranged a kind of sports day. And I went along — I think I was the only father at the match, actually, because it was midweek and in the afternoon — and Andy Busk hadn’t turned up. So they kind of press-ganged a referee, and that was me.
I had a number of difficulties. Because first of all, at that time on Clapham Common there weren’t football pitches: so there were no markings for where the goals were or where the lines were. So I put a couple of sweaters down for the goals. The other thing was I didn’t have a whistle. The boys didn’t have different colours — they were just in their kind of ordinary clothes. And also I didn’t know the rules. Nor did I know their names — I knew my son’s name, but I didn’t know the other people’s names!
And so the match started. And one boy shouted, ‘Oh, the ball’s out!’ Another boy shouted, `No, that’s not out!’ So I didn’t know. I’m a kind of non-confrontational person anyway — I just said, ‘Play on!’ And then someone did a foul, and someone said, ‘Hey, that's a foul!’ and someone else said, ‘That’s not a foul!’ I didn’t know whether it was a foul or not, so I said, `Play on.’
Literally there were three or four small boys lying on the ground — and the place looked like a battlefield! And eventually, to my immense relief, I saw Andy Busk arriving on his bike.
Andy Busk had his whistle, he knew the boys’ names, he put them in teams. Every time there was a foul or the ball went out, he blew the whistle, stopped the game, and he imposed the rules.
Now, were they more free when I was refereeing and there was total chaos, or were they more free when there was someone in charge and there was a definite set of rules and within that set of rules they were free to enjoy the game?
And God has given us guidelines of how to live — not because he hates us, but because he loves us, and he wants us to enjoy life to the full.”'
And, expanding on the Christian principles of freedom, Ven Mary Ward (1585-1645, Catholic religious sister who lived in post Reformation England) spoke about a threefold freedom
"A freedom FROM everything that could make us cling to things of the world;
A freedom FOR all such good works that can be done, whatever the needs of the Church might be;
A freedom TO refer all things to God, that there were no part of our lives that should not be open to this freedom to the Lord.”
And from the Jesuits:
"God’s commands are to protect our freedom and even expand it. Actions do not harm us spiritually because the commandments forbid them; the commandments forbid them because they harm us.
Ignatian spirituality emphasizes interior freedom. To choose rightly, we should strive to be free of personal preferences, superfluous attachments, and preformed opinions.
Ignatius counseled radical detachment: “We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.
"OUR ONE GOAL IS THE FREEDOM TO MAKE A WHOLEHEARTED CHOICE TO FOLLOW GOD."
May we be have the wisdom to understand and the grace to choose TRUE FREEDOM!
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