Freedom

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Freedom

Spirit     Guided

Live     Love     Serve

Christ Set Us Free

Inheritance

(photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Galatians 5:1, 13-18

For freedom Christ set us free: persevere and do not fall again to the weight of slavery.

You have been invited to freedom.

Do not use this freedom to follow the flesh.

Instead help others through love.

The whole law is found in one teaching:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

If you go on putting others down, be careful that you are not destroyed by one another.

If you live by the Spirit, you will not follow the ways of the flesh. The flesh fights against the Spirit and the Spirit fights against the flesh.

They are so opposed that you do not do what you really want to do. 

If you follow the promptings of the Spirit, you do not need the law.

Reflection

We all want to be free. 

We call our country the land of the free.

People get upset with any attempt to limit their freedom. We have seen that over and over again with the restrictions that have been enacted to try to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians challenges us to reflect on what true freedom is all about. Paul helps us to see where freedom comes from. It is found in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

When we are guided by the Spirit, we try to find ways to love and serve others. A truly free person does not concentrate on selfish needs but seeks out ways to give to others.

It is easy to fall into slavery. We see it all the time---people enslaved to drugs, money, fame. We know, of course, that all these things are ultimately empty and do not satisfy the deepest hungers of our heart.

Jesus has set us free by showing us how to Love. He always looked for ways to help and to heal.

Paul reminds us that when we are truly free, the law is not necessary. We have moved beyond the law because we are following the promptings of the Spirit.

We have been given a great inheritance---the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we follow the Spirit we build up the Kingdom of God through our love of neighbor.

Freedom spreads!

1. What is true freedom for you?

2. How does the Holy Spirit guide you to be free?

3. Why is the law not needed if are truly free?

4. What feelings does Kathy's photo of the Freedom Tower evoke in you?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)