Freedom!

"I , the Lord, will take hold of your hand, I will keep you and make you . . . . a light. . . . to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." [Isaiah 42: 6-7]

Freedom! It is a universal longing of the heart. Just as "the desire for God is written upon the human heart" [The Catholic Catechism], just as we long for God, so we long for freedom.

I came from a place where there were Rules. Food Rules about eating what was put in front of me, or there would be nothing else. Some nights, I went hungry.  Rules about how to wear my hair. What colors to wear. What style of dress. What school to go to. What to study. What profession to choose. What company to work for and where to live. Rules against going to church. Rules about whom to marry.

You would think I would have taken up drugs and dyed my hair purple. You would think I would have rebelled.

A dear friend, kind of like a sister, would tell me, "God wants you to be yourself." This sounded to me like a simplistic thought, even childish.

But God did give us free will:  Sirach 15: 15-20 says, "God has set before you fire and water, to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him."

Freedom was granted us from God. This freedom is the very basis of human rights. If the regime is oppressive enough, there is something in the human spirit that rebels, that wants to resist and break free.

The Christians resisted Roman rule. Eastern Europe resisted Turkish rule. The French engaged in protests against their monarch, which became riots, which became The French Revolution. The Revolution spread to the American colonies.

History has not changed much. Much of the world is still not free. In China, practicing one's religion is illegal. In Sudan, the powerful Muslim majority to the north persecutes the Christians in the south. North and South Korea are divided.

But there have been protests recently in Tunisia, Lybia and Egypt, that became prolonged and extensive enough to threaten and even to topple rulers.

My heart aches over the deaths and injuries there. We long to be free, to be released from our prisons. It is a yearning so strong, an impulse that we are willing to fight and even to die for.

God, free us from the bonds that hold us captive, release us from our prisons of doubt and fear, and let freedom reign!\

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Reserved.