What areas of your life are bound by the pleasure of slavery? Are you willing to expose them to the light of Jesus’ fire? - Daily Reflections October 24,2013

FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

 

Imagine a man born blind gaining his sight one day through a cornea transplant operation. He would be ecstatic, for sure, seeing colors for the first time. Now, imagine the same man the next day deciding he would prefer to be blind again. Hard to imagine, right? But in truth, there have actually been reports of blind people going into depression, not being able to handle the “responsibilities” of newfound sight.

       Something like this happens all the time. I remember a movie I saw years ago entitled the Shawshank Redemption. It portrays prison life and how prisoners cope once they regain their freedom. One prisoner, released after serving a 50-year sentence, ended up killing himself in his hotel room. A life of freedom was too hard for him to bear. He was not used to it. He now had to work to pay for food, rent and shelter. In one scene, he was shown actually pining for prison life. In another scene, many of the inmates preferred prison life than a life of freedom. They may be isolated in prison, but at least life there is “secure.” It’s a tragedy, but people can actually prefer the security of slavery to the challenge of freedom.

       Similarly, didn’t the Israelites of Moses’ time pine to be back in Egypt, the place of their slavery, where they ate meat rather than the heavenly manna they were fed with on the road to their freedom?

       In his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us to beware of this tendency. The slavery to sin may feel pleasurable and convenient. But then, he asks, “What benefits did you then enjoy? Things you are now ashamed of…” (v.21). Paul continues that the slavery to sin all tends towards death — the death of the soul. “Slavery” to God, on the contrary, tends to life (v.23).

       But this slavery to God has a price. It is threatening, painful and purifying. This is why Jesus in today’s Gospel speaks of bringing fire on the earth, of bringing not peace but division (Luke 12:49). These are the responsibilities of genuine freedom — sadly, responsibilities that a “cornea recipient” or a “released prisoner” may find intimidating. Fr. Joel O. Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: What areas of your life are bound by the pleasure of slavery? Are you willing to expose them to the light of Jesus’ fire?

 

Grant me true freedom, Lord, even if I have to go through the crucible of fire. Amen.