When Pope St. John Paul II landed in Washington, DC and was greeted by then Presiden Reagan, the President said, “Welcome to the land of the free.” And John Paul II said, “Free, yes, but free for what?! Free for what?!”
It seems that today we define freedom as the ability to do whatever you want. Of course, doing whatever we feel like doing in the moral realm doesn’t necessarily lead to freedom, but often leads to vice. Vice. That’s the perfect word for it. It’s a destructive habit that grabs us like a vice grip, and doesn’t let us go easily. Don’t believe me? Think of your favorite sin. Now try to stop!
Genesis 4:7 says, “If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.” You see, freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever we want. It’s the power to do what’s right. And ultimately, true freedom is the power to love. That’s the kind of freedom Jesus Christ modeled for us in his life and in his death. It’s the freedom he’s inviting us to live in today.
