Homily Tools
  • Home
  • Lent Year A
    • Ash Wednesday >
      • Ash Wednesday Reflection
      • Ash Wednesday Commentary
    • 1st Sunday Lent (A)
    • 2nd Sunday Lent (A)
    • 3rd Sunday Lent (A)
    • 4th Sunday Lent (A) >
      • Audio commentary
    • 5th Sunday Lent (A)
  • Easter Year A
    • Easter Sunday
    • Second Sunday (A)
    • Third Sunday (A)
    • Fourth Sunday (A)
    • Fifth Sunday (A)
    • Sixth Sunday (A)
    • Seventh Sunday (A)
  • Holy Week
    • Palm Sunday
    • Holy Thursday
    • Good Friday
  • Links
    • Distance ministry links
    • Livestream
    • General Links
    • Biblical links
    • Lectio method
  • Home
  • Lent Year A
    • Ash Wednesday >
      • Ash Wednesday Reflection
      • Ash Wednesday Commentary
    • 1st Sunday Lent (A)
    • 2nd Sunday Lent (A)
    • 3rd Sunday Lent (A)
    • 4th Sunday Lent (A) >
      • Audio commentary
    • 5th Sunday Lent (A)
  • Easter Year A
    • Easter Sunday
    • Second Sunday (A)
    • Third Sunday (A)
    • Fourth Sunday (A)
    • Fifth Sunday (A)
    • Sixth Sunday (A)
    • Seventh Sunday (A)
  • Holy Week
    • Palm Sunday
    • Holy Thursday
    • Good Friday
  • Links
    • Distance ministry links
    • Livestream
    • General Links
    • Biblical links
    • Lectio method
thoughts and observations on the daily readings

The Freedom of the Children of God

4/22/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
 
When our culture imagines freedom, it appears to have in mind freedom from restrictions, personal autonomy, and the idea that we somehow create ourselves as we see fit. Sadly, this cultural version is a much reduced version of the freedom for which our hearts truly long.
 
To understand this, we need to recall the link between love and freedom. In marriage, the husband and wife each surrender part of themselves, some of their personal autonomy. But when that marriage is lived authentically as a communion of life, that surrender becomes gain as the two individuals become so much more. In the mathematics of love, 1+1= infinity. And consider when that expanding love participates in God’s life-giving work by the raising of children. Parents, in love, place all kinds of restrictions on their children. But these restrictions in fact enable the freedom of the children as they are able to engage in the world protected and guided. Sometimes we find ourselves needing to care for a loved one in need or illness. Is that service in love feel like a reduction of our freedom or do we render that service with a sense of joy and gratitude that we can help?
 
Today, we hear about the imprisonment and miraculous deliverance of the Apostles. But the truth is that even in prison, they were still free. They knew the freedom of the children of God. Their earthly circumstances could never change the gift given to them by God. As the Gospel of John puts it so succinctly “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son…”
 
In these days of pandemic, the many restrictions on daily life and work are hard to bear. And yet it is good to be reminded of the truth that has already set us free – the truth of God’s loving mercy. We may be limited in movement, but there are no restrictions on our capacity to believe, to hope, to love. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.