The Heart of St. Paul
What is the meaning of freedom? It is a word that is used often today. As Americans, there are many freedoms that we possess, but for some, freedom means the right to do whatever one wants, to whoever one wants, whenever one wants. People with common sense realize that this is not freedom, but license, and it is not a good thing.
The freedom that St. Paul preaches is something quite different. Paul writes to the Galatians: “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Gal 5:13-14)
By Christ’s death on the cross, Paul realizes that God’s grace has restored us to freedom to choose the good, the right, the true and the beautiful. Freedom is not given to us for our self-satisfaction alone, but for the glory of God and the building up of one another. To give ourselves over to bodily pleasures and selfishness is to give ourselves back into slavery. We surrender our freedom to something less than we are! But if we give our minds, hearts, bodies and souls over to Christ, we become truly free. There will be pleasures and joys as well as sorrow and tears. When these are united to Christ the pleasures and joys become purer and the sorrows are lightened.
St. Paul knows from his own life that the greatest temptations we face come from a focus on excessive bodily pleasures. They can consume us and distort our lives. When we allow these things to rule our lives, we sell ourselves for very little and reap even less because in the end, the love of God will be drained from our souls. It is clear to St. Paul that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to be free from sin so that we have the freedom for doing good and glorifying God. Christ has given us this freedom. May we never forget where it has come from, and the cost that Jesus Christ paid for it, his own life.
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