Monday of the
Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 4:22-24.26-27.31-5:1; Luke 11:29-32)
The young man was also a parachutist. He enjoyed telling people about the freedom one
feels jumping out of an airplane. There is
no restriction of motion, no containment of euphoria. One feels refreshed, stimulated, and in
control of his destiny. In today’s first
reading St. Paul speaks of a moral freedom that also leaves its possessor in
elation.
The moral freedom of Christians is not the absence of law. They too should fast at times and receive the
sacraments. No, their freedom consists
in hosting the Holy Spirit as their guide and strength. The Spirit enables them to perceive the truth
and then to live it. It releases them
from worry and moves them to the happiness for which they were created. As Paul writes, “For freedom Christ set us
free.”
Moral freedom is a gift that we endeavor to keep. We must not allow the enticements of illicit
pleasure and unrestrained egotism to entangle us. The Spirit will alert us to these pitfalls
and will give us the resolve to avoid them.
Nevertheless, we must decide to follow it.
