For The Love Of Freedom

" It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. So stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. But do not use your freedom to indulge in catering to your flesh; rather, serve one another through Love. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."   But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. I say then: live by the Spirit. The Spirit [being] against the flesh, they are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want." Galatians 5: 1, 13- 18].

The Independence Day holiday is coming up in America. There is a lot of talk about freedom, and "rights".

I remember a class I took in Constitutional Law in graduate school. The professor loudly proclaimed that, despite all our talk of  Rights, we Americans have no Rights, only remedies.

There ensued a lively and even angry debate. Finally, the professor explained. He said, "You have no Right that someone won't run you over with their car. If someone wants to do that, they will. But IF you are run over by a car, you have remedies."

There were wails of protest. "This is America! We have Rights!" As I walked out of class, I realized that my professor was correct. We do not walk around with a protective shield covering us, promising us the guaranteed Right to freedom and security.

And so, if we have no Rights, then where are our Freedoms? After all, the American Constitution promises us, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

My teen son cannot wait to become an adult, so he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I groan at this and tell him, "I need to talk to you."

I said, Sure you can drive at 100 miles per hour, but the police will catch you,  and you might even kill someone. Or yourself. "Some Freedom."

I said, If you want any money, you will have to get a job, and then you will have a boss telling you what to do.

Adults get more freedom, more choices. But there are still rules to live by. And consequences, if the rules are broken.

We have millions  of laws and rules. It is mind boggling how much regulation we have to know and follow. You cannot keep track of it all. You could break the law many times over in a day, without even knowing it. This is what St. Paul means about the Law, in this Scripture. The Law is contained in the overwhelming, mind-boggling body of rules, regulations, stipulations that control our every move.

One could become paranoid about how to behave.

I was thinking about this years ago, when I was preparing my son to go off to school for the very first time. I sat him down and gave him some advice: " Mommy cannot always be with you. You are going out into the world. You will have many decisions to make all day long. There are too many rules to memorize. But when in doubt, always choose the loving thing."

Many years later, I chose a church and converted. And I came across the Commandment in this Reading that Jesus left us with: " You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

I also think of 1 Corinthians 13: 13, "Faith, hope and charity, but the greatest of these is Charity." This is exactly what St. Paul means in this Reading in Galatians: " Do not use your freedom to indulge your [ego-driven temptations]; rather, serve one another through Love."

To say that 'Serving others through Love' is Freedom is so diametrically opposed to what our secular world teaches, that you may think St. Paul is either lying, or was a fool!

But really, if all of humankind's behavior is egotistical, violent, greedy, hateful, despairing, vindictive and vengeful, how can we ever be truly Free? Indeed, as this Reading says, " If you go on biting and devouring one another, you will consume each other." Who wants to live in a Society like that?

In that kind of Society, it is WE who enslave each other. Martin Luther King, Jr. talks about types of subjection. One kind of subjection is " the chains of discrimination". This is how humankind enslaves each other.

The other kind of subjection is "a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." In other words, we do exactly as we want, as freely as we want, but we ignore the invisible, suffering, marginalized population, living right under our nose.

In the end, God gave us free will, centuries before any nations' Constitution or Bill of Rights. We are to live by the Spirit, which means that " you may not do [whatever] you want."

Instead, we are to "Love one's neighbor as oneself". If we always temper our Freedoms with Love, we will never enslave another with our bigotry or hate.

I would argue that we will also not be able to withstand the sight of our neighbors suffering, even if that suffering is not by our own hand. Because if our neighbor is hungry and cold and invisible and thirsty and alone, the Love in our heart would demand that we do something about it.

This Independence Day, be free to Love; be loving to be Free.

[Related Postings: "Independence Day," July 4, 2011; " Celebrating My Independence", July 3, 2012.]

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