Freedom From or Freedom To

Last summer around this time I was stationed in Clearwater with Fr. Ken Malley. We were engrossed in the HBO series John Adams, and our viewings timed out well with the celebration of our nation’s independence. He gave a very patriotic homily, with more than few elements from the series creeping into his rhetoric—I was very proud. This year, I am sitting in a remote African town where there will likely be no firework celebration, hooting, or hollering come July 4th. Well, maybe I’ll do some hollering.

I have been humbled by the warm reception I’ve been given as an American. Many presuppose I am Italian, so they speak very slowly to me at first like I’m an idiot. It bothered me for all of one day, and then I started having fun with the people. What has been surprising is the amount of priests admitting to me their own surprise to see a seminarian from America, where they gather the media has done such a number with the scandals that no normal man would consider the priesthood. Even the Bishop confessed to me that I gave him a sense of hope for the future Church, especially the Church in America. “If young men and women are still willing to give their lives freely to Christ to serve others in this age..…well, I don’t know why I bother worrying,” he told me one afternoon. Again, very humbling.

America is courageous, but we can also be courageous arrogant. Our notion of freedom often comes with underlying connotation of license—freedom from restrictions, freedom from anything that could hamper my pleasure. Authentic Christian freedom looks like service—freedom to do the good, freedom to be led by the Spirit of God. Of course, this often entails embracing the Cross. This is the paradox of a life laid down in love. Freedom without a purpose runs out of steam quickly. Egocentrism leaves a hollow void. God’s law is not given for His own good, but for our own good. We have a God who wants our lives to be not bound in a set of legalistic rules but lived in an authentic love story: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I would that it were already blazing” (Lk 12:49). He wants our communion with Him to be a blazing fire that rises up into a fullness of life. Now that freedom would taste sweet. End of soapbox.

That all being said, here’s to chicken fried, a cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right, and the radio up. Here’s to all that have freely given their lives for our nation. And here’s to our Christ who freely offers His body every day. May our God continue to bless America. Miss you all.

-Bob
written 06/29/11

PS: No patriotic image to share. So enjoy this picture of a cute African child instead.