MODULE 2A: FREEDOM FROM A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE

The Concept of Freedom from a Religious Perspective:

Freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants (secular)

Freedom: “the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility” (CCC 1731)

What is True Freedom?

  • Freedom is not ‘the power to do what one likes’  false freedom
  • Those who have acted on this type of freedom:
  • Caused suffering to others
  • Committed crimes
  • Violated the rights of others
  • All people want to be free
  • Freedom is a desire to be free from something that oppresses
  • Freedom is the ability to do something
  • Freedom is linked to responsibility and choice
  • Basic human yearning is expressed:
  • In a desire for personal freedom
  • In a desire for freedom in society
  • History has shown on multiple occasions that people have fought for their freedom and other’s freedom

Personal Freedom

  • Two related ways of thinking:
  • Inner Quality: ability from within a person to make choices
  • External Quality: ability to act in the world freely

Religion and Freedom:

  • Religions tend to be concerned with bringing out what they perceive as good
  • Jesus taught believers to:
  • relate intimately with God, the Creator of everything, including human goodness
  • accept the influence of God in daily life so that every individual’s potential for goodness and love matures
  • develop quality human relationships by developing the love of God within the life of the individual
  • find the meaning, purpose and direction of their lives
  • prepare for life after death, and the making of choices that lead to eternal intimacy and happiness with God in heaven

The Catholic Perspective on Freedom:

  • God calls all people in freedom into a loving relationship
  • Shares many of the same views as others in society both religious and non-religious
  • Christian freedom is bound up in how they see the world, God, the human person and how people relate to each other
  • This understanding is found in The Bible and the life and teaching of the Church
  • It is important to appreciate the role the Catholic faith tradition plays in shaping this understanding
  • Freedom is about people being able to choose for themselves with the implication of the commitment to be responsible for what one chooses
  • It is an important point because without being responsible, a person could freely choose something but be unwilling to accept the consequences of their choice
  • To be free implies ownership of what one chooses
  • Message Christians are called to proclaim is that the truth of Jesus’ message sets people free
  • Understanding expressed in biblical texts, traditions and teachings
  • This Tradition proclaims that each person needs to be freed from all that enslaves them from being able to come to know and choose to be in a loving relationship with God

Freedom is Part of God’s Creative Plan:

  • “God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.” (CCC 1730)
  • Catholics believe that God created all humans good and in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27)
  • Humans were created in harmony with God knowing and relating fully with God
  • They were created with free will and full ability to choose the goodness and love that God has to offer
  • Human sinfulness marred God’s plan
  • Two creation stories tells how humans made choices that rejected God’s offers and harmed their relationship

Jesus is the Source of True Freedom:

  • Jesus resolves the issue through his incarnation, life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection
  • In Catholic teaching, Jesus is presented as reversing the choice of Adam and Eve by remaining faithful to God’s will
  • Jesus shows the extent of God’s love for all people and overcomes all that ‘enslaves’ people in life
  • The cross, instead of being a sign of failure and shame becomes a sign of triumph and liberation from all that rejects god
  • It is Jesus that shows and empowers people in their search for true freedom
  • In order to follow Jesus people, need to:
  • know Jesus. If people do not know him they do not know how to relate with him and to draw upon the freedom he offers
  • know the teachings of Jesus. They need to know how the teachings of Jesus relate to their lives
  • relate with Jesus personally and to live as he taught

Freedom in the Bible:

  • “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ. Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation, and have believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise, the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.” (Eph 1:3-4, 13-19)

Growing in Holiness:

  • Life of prayer, worship and service is integral to how people come to grow in holiness
  • Sacramental life of the Catholic Church supports Catholics in their journey towards holiness
  • Baptism
  • Holy Communion
  • Confirmation
  • Holy Orders (for priests)
  • Follow Church teachings  CST, Beatitudes, 10 Commandments, Gospel Values

The Church and Freedom:

  • The Church has been at the front of the struggle for people to be free
  • Examples:
  • Oscar Romero in El Salvador
  • Catholics responding to:
  • Fascism
  • Slavery
  • Colonisation of the ‘New World’

Catholic Expression of Freedom:

  • Following Jesus is challenging
  • Many Christians take trends, attitudes and institutions of society for granted
  • They accept unquestioningly the truths on which their societies have been based
  • Many ideologies in society that conflict the teachings of Jesus
  • The economic demands of modern society, along with the pace of life, make it hard for people to live life-styles that allow the necessary time for reflection and self-examination
  • To respond to the Christian calling to share in the work of Jesus is not easy. It is a challenge to be:
  • be truly free to make personal choices without being unduly influenced by such things as the media or peer group
  • integrate every aspect of the person so that people can enjoy inner harmony
  • be aware of personal mystery in order to be led to true self-understanding and values
  • promote freedom in human society
  • base an attitude to life on Christian hope in order to face difficulties in life and overcome them
  • God wants us to draw on the help of the Holy Spirit:
  • “You must take up all God’s armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full” (Ephesians 6:13)
  • Christians struggle to be personally free and to contribute to the formation of society
  • There is a deep yearning to be freed from all influences that prevent them from doing good in their families, friends and society
  • God provides guidance and support to everyone so that they can experience freedom
  • Found in what God as revealed e.g. words and examples of Jesus

Limits of Freedom:

  • The modern world sees freedom as:
  • creating as many choices as possible
  • “doing whatever I want to do”
  • “It promotes reliance on self without being responsible to God, the human community or the natural word in which we live” -(Pennock, 2008)
  • “This mentality has created such an emphasis on the “freedom of choice” that the fundamental right to life has been assaulted and denied” -(Pennock, 2008)
  • “It is a gross distortion of the exercise of freedom to attack other human beings and the values God’s law seeks to protect” -(Pennock, 2008)
  • Human freedom is limited
  • Unlimited freedom is license, true freedom is not license
  • “License is unbridled, excessive, undisciplined freedom that abuses true liberty” -(Pennock, 2008)
  • “The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, "the subject of this freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods.” (CCC 1740)

Freedom can be Understood as a State and an Ability to Choose

“Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility” (CCC 1731).

False State of Freedom / True State of Freedom
Kingdom of Self / Kingdom of God
Wrong relationship with God, others and the environment / Right relationship with God, each other and the environment in the here and now
Power of prestige and possessions / Fulfilled when we are our true self through our love of God, each other and care of the environment
Our purpose is to love God, love each other and be stewards to the environment. This gives us meaning as we draw on our inner potential
This is satisfied through the knowledge that we are created in God’s image and are all sons and daughters of God
Fulfilled by God’s unconditional love and the love we have for each other in the Body of Christ
We are secure when humanity focuses on right relationship with each other, God and the environment. We are called to trust God knowing that God will take care of his children
Temporary/Superficial Fulfilment or Happiness / Real Fulfilment or Happiness

Quotes:

  • “The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin."” (CCC 1733)
  • “Freedom makes manresponsiblefor his acts to the extent that they are voluntary.” (CCC 1734)
  • “Imputabilityand responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors” (CCC 1735)
  • “Every act directly willed is imputable to its author” (CCC 1736)
  • “Theright to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person.” (CCC 1738)
  • “Man's freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man failed. He freely sinned. By refusing God's plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin.” (CCC 1739)
  • “Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly belong to him.” (CCC 1745)