1. Freedom for the sake of love
November 29, 2017

2. Common statements about Freedom
It’s a free country, I can do what I want
As long as I’m not hurting anyone, I can do whatever I want
It’s my life, what I do is nobody’s business
What does Freedom mean to us?

3. Oya Google, tell us…

4. Freedom in the Catholic sense
CCC,1731: Freedom is 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. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.

5. Worldly Freedom vs. Catholic Freedom
Centered around me vs. Centered around God
Worldly Freedom
Catholic Freedom
GOD
Power
Will
Reason
Actions
Direction
Growth
Maturity
Truth
Goodness ME
Power
Right
Thought
Words
Actions
Entitlement

6. What else does the Church say about Freedom?
CCC,1733: 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,1734: Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis (Self-Denial) enhance the mastery of the will over its acts.

7. Why are we Free?
God created mankind so that we may enter into a loving and intimate relationship with Him, and this is made possible through Jesus Christ (John 3:16; John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:4).
CCC,1743: God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel (cf. Sir 15:14), so that he might of his own accord seek his creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to Him"
It is not possible to enter into this relationship without free will; man cannot love God without free will.

8. Threats to our Freedom
CCC, 1740: 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.“
Lust
Greed
Gluttony
Envy
Anger
Pride
Sloth

9. How should we exercise our freedom?
Freedom attains its perfection when directed towards God
Therefore, in making choices freely, we ought to ask ourselves: does this choice move me closer to God or away from God.
We are created in the image and likeness of God. God is Love. Therefore, our natural way of being is to love. When we love (by doing good), we are being true to ourselves. When we don’t love or do good, it means we are being led by something alien to our true nature and therefore, we are slaves to that thing.

10. Freedom for the sake of Love
What is Love?
What types of love are there?
How do we Love?

11. What is Love? Love is a theological virtue.
Love is willing the good of the other – St. Thomas Aquinas.
“Love is Patient. Love is Kind; Love is not Jealous or Boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Cor. 13: 4 – 7

12. Types of Love Philia: Love of Friendship and Family
Agape: Love for God and Humanity grounded in and shaped by Faith
Eros: Loving intimacy between a man and a woman which directs them towards marriage

13. Freedom to Love within Marriage
Christian marriage combines all 3 types of love
In Christian marriage, husband and wife freely choose to surrender their will to each other in self-giving love. Their plans, dreams, and preferences are subordinated to the good of the spouse and any children they may have.
Love makes the person want to do just that – surrender himself/herself to another to the one he/she loves – St. John Paul II.

14. Growing in Love through Practice and Prayer
Author, Edward Sri says that Love like other virtues is a skill that is to be developed.
Yet, many people jump into relationships without having developed the skill to love or without assessing whether their partner has developed the skill.
Pray for the grace to grow in virtue, especially Love, understanding that when we pray for something, sometimes God simply gives us the opportunity to practice what we have prayed for.

15. Being in Love vs. Love Is there a difference?
CS Lewis’ perspective, pg. 42 of MWAMOL
According to Saint John Paul II, love as experience should be subordinated to love as virtue. A strong relationship is based on virtue and friendship.

16. What is Friendship? Three types of friendship: Utility Friendship
Pleasant Friendship
Virtuous Friendship
In a virtuous friendship, the two friends are concerned not with what they get out of the friendship but with what is best for the friend and with pursuing the virtuous life with that friend.
In Christian marriage, the virtuous friendship is manifested by the spouses serving each other and helping each other grow in holiness.

17. Choosing a Mate
If virtuous friendship provides a good foundation for marriage then we ought to choose mates with whom we can develop a virtuous friendship
Also, since Christian freedom attains perfection when directed towards God, then we should choose a mate who can lead us closer to God.
We should choose mates who can help us get into Heaven.

18. Preparing our Hearts to Love
Our single life is not just a time of waiting for a spouse but a time of formation – preparing our hearts for the greater love that is required during marriage or even for a life of holy order.
According to Mathew Kelly, in order to give ourselves freely to another person or to God, we must first possess ourselves. The possession of self is freedom and it is attained through discipline. Without self-mastery, self- control, and self-dominion, we are incapable of love.
In Marriage, the goal should be to out-compete each other in the game of self-giving love.

19. The Grace of God
Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life (CCC, 1996).
We can increase the grace of God in our hearts through:
Prayer
The Sacraments
Corporal works of mercy
Let us ask our Mother to help us!

20. In Conclusion
From a Christian perspective, Freedom is not about doing whatever one wants. It is about fulfilling though Love our relationships with God and with the people God has placed in our lives.
To live our relationships well, we must grow in virtue (that habitual disposition to doing good), especially Love often by surrendering our own will in order to serve the good of others
God gave us freedom so we could choose to live for Him and for others, not just for ourselves. We have freedom so that we can choose to make our lives a gift to God and others.