Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
(II Corinthians 3:15-4:1.3-6; Matthew 5:20-26)
If one were to name the leading gods of the present age,
freedom would be high on the list.
Everyone wants to freedom of one sort or another. Socialists want
freedom from physical needs and so value free education, medical assistance,
even housing and food for the masses.
Capitalists opt for freedom as the right to say and do as one pleases. St. Paul in today’s first reading treasures freedom
as well. But his conception of freedom varies considerably from current ideas.
For Paul freedom is the harnessing of personal vice so that
one can pursue friendship with God. As
he indicates today in the first reading, freedom is looking at the Lord with an
unveiled face so that one can know his expectations. It is seeing with faith
the glory of God in Jesus Christ and taking cues from him.
We should not eschew current conceptions of freedom. Those with basic needs unfulfilled have
greater difficulty accepting religious truth. And certainly individual conscience has to be
respected. However, to recognize how bad
behavior causes personal and social harm suggests that religious freedom is
also critical. We need religious
instruction to curtail our desires.
Freed from incessant and destructive wants, we can pursue the soul’s true
goals of peace, joy, and friendship.
