Sunday, July 4, 2010

True Freedom


Happy July Fourth holiday! Our family is going to enjoy a backyard barbecue with grandparents and aunts and plenty of delicious food and dessert. While we observe this national holiday on the Sabbath this year, let's think about freedom in some ways we normally don't associate with this national holiday.

True freedom is that which is found only in Christ. Freedom from attachment to our will. Freedom from attachment to the allurements of this world. Freedom from attachment to sin and vice. Freedom from attachment to things that enslave us, whether they be tangible items that cause us to live beyond our means or ideas which prevent us from living as faithful Catholics.

If you've paid any attention at all to the news in these past few months, it does make you wonder what's happening to our world. The more God is shoved aside, the more disaster strikes, both natural and man-made. The Gulf of Mexico has undergone a catastrophic disaster caused by man's greed and lack of foresight. Working people dependent on the Gulf for their livelihood are struggling to make ends meet just a scant few years after surviving Hurricane Katrina. Sharks have been seen in the Atlantic waters in places they're not normally observed, perhaps related to having their habitats fouled by oil. Unemployment is still rampant and many who have been unable to find work will see their benefits end soon. The disaster in the Gulf will mean more jobs lost, perhaps never to be regained, and the economy will continue to suffer. Earthquakes have rattled Haiti, Chile and other places. Volcanoes have interrupted international travel. A sudden and violent thunderstorm knocked out power to our region during an especially stifling heat spell.

While we pause today to enjoy the traditions of the July Fourth holiday, let's also think about the path our world is headed down and what we individually are doing to change that perilous course.

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