It is astonishing to me that people at times say that the restrictions of Catholics is too hard and they do not allow the individual enough freedom in their lives; though it is uncertain as to what this freedom consists.
On a macro level, it is obvious that we all have full access to freedom: Pro-Choice in everything we do. We are totally free, due to God’s gift of freewill, to abide by Him and to submit ourselves to His will or to sin in life. We can and do commit at times the most heinous crimes as is obvious in the present sex scandals in the Catholic Church. What is to stop us? So what you are after, it seems, is not ‘freedom’ to live according to God’s will but to have God change His will so that you can live your life outside of His Holy Will but according to your own; without any restrictions, regrets, shame or duties that even a simple marriage vow binds one to.
If we Love God as we think we do then it seems logical that we should take to heart our saviors words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.”__ Matthew 22:37 As in a marriage vow we give to one another our entire selves in sacrificial love and perhaps for the first time in our lives we live our lives for another; to please them, protect them, to abide with them in good times and in bad times. There is nothing we would not do to attempt to bring them anything but complete happiness and joy.
Is it not the same with God, except more so? For we seem not to think that the burden of marriage is too hard (though many fail at this these days) but we all know of good marriages that have succeeded and when they fell for a time they made up and rebuilt their marriages on trust and fidelity once again. Do we feel imprisoned in marriage? Do we feel that we have lost our freedom? Would we rather be free of our responsibilities and lose the love of another that we have become one with? Speaking for myself the answer I would give is no.
Now when God and His Church asks of us to take on His yoke and encourages us with the words, “For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.” __ Matthew 11:30 it is not because He is a liar but because He knows that True Love of Him makes His Will easy for us to bear as it does in a good and Holy marriage. Yes, we will fail from time to time as our human frailties and fallen natures makes us vulnerable to lapses in our judgement and a weakness in our will. But He again has provided for us through Confession and penance to atone for our sins and to mend our relationship once again.
So we have all the freedom in the world though we must decide if the freedoms we desire are good for us, good for our souls, good for the nation, good for humankind and especially if it is in accord with the Will of God which He has given us. For within His freedom even mortal death no longer frightens us but becomes a door which leads to Our Beloved Lord; Whom we expectantly hope to see face to face. A consummation of that love which we started here on earth and which is perfected should we be worthy enough to find ourselves with a place Heaven.
Mostly, the only freedom we need to cherish above all is the freedom to Love God and to worship and adore Him and to try our best to please Him. All other freedom is temporal and has no long term meaning. It is but a blink of an eye to our eternal soul. God’s freedom is eternal and guarantees the completion and fulfillment of our total happiness. What else can we look forward to with as much delight and enthusiasm? For Christ is our final end for which this life was given us.
All Along the Watchtower 
“For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.” __ Matthew 11:30 it is not because He is a liar but because He knows that True Love of Him makes His Will easy for us to bear
That’s not what it means. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. The saved don’t have 7 things to do or a pit of fire hanging over their head called purgatory. The saved have a simple walk with the good Shepherd. he corrects them and leads them to still waters. Their children don’t live in fear of hell if they happen to miss a magic act. They aren’t saddled with some confirmation to see if they are good enough for their creator. This is the easy yoke and light burden.
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I assume that you believe that as a minimum you must love God Bosco. And if you love Him you would abide by His words: “If you love me you will do all that I have commanded you to do.” Now if you don’t or won’t even try because you think you are automatically saved by some special arrangement, what is the quality of your love? Or more importantly, do you love Him at all? It seems rather doubtful that you would presume upon Christ to save you though you will do nothing for love of Him.
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Good brother scoop, beautiful question. And I think this question is the heart of the matter.
I didnt know Jesus. I was in the choir. I figured I was doing what I could. I also was doing my thing. Rock guitarist and get high and get girls. Wasnt the best at getting girls because I had to be in befor dark. Jesus dropped anew spirit into me that knew Jesus. I quickly got to know him, and as it happens , got to love him. Its a relationship. You Semiramis worshipers claim you love god but yo dont know him. You never walked and talked and lived with him. I have.
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Things Jesus didn’t say:
“Don’t repent, and believe in the Gospel!”
“He who does not pick up his cross daily and follow me is worthy of me if he’s a believer.”
“It is not what enters the mouth that defiles a man, but actually it’s not what comes out of a man that defiles him either, only unbelief.”
“Anyone who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood is a-okay.”
“Many will say on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and I will send all of them to Heaven, because they believed and taught in my Name.”
“Do this in memory of me… but just if you feel like it, it’s not really important.”
“Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven – but don’t actually use that authority, it’s just to make you feel special.”
“Go therefore and baptize – but it’s not actually, like, necessary or anything.”
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There is a beauty in living life a certain way but it’s not a restriction of freedom; one has to see it in the proper sense.
For example, if one takes up a sport like golf or baseball and they want to hit the ball well. There is a certain technique which they must comply to do it well. In golf, if one continues to practice, they’ll get tips on what not to do to hit the ball well, but once they apply these techniques there will come the time when they will it the ball so purely in the most perfect fluid motion. Naturally, though, it takes instruction, practice, and sometimes losing the habit of what appears to be one natural way of hitting the ball.
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Good analogy. In all sports there are rules. Is there a discontent amongst those who watch these sports to change the rules or to do as Basco would advise, throw out all rules, eliminate teams (as they are all nonsense as are religions). All the ball players have to do is say that they accept the sport and they will win a trophy whether they practice, follow the rules or eat hotdogs in the stands.
What you end up with those who desire their own version of freedom is total anarchy in life; disoriented and without a aim to life to aspire to. Same thing in sports.
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I have one rule…..love your neighbor as yourself. On this hangs the law and the prophets.
The “protestants” have no rules to follow. Don’t confuse the wack job Mormons and jehovas and 7th dayers with protestants. Those guys are rule ridden,but nowhere near as rule ridden as the CC. The CC has a religion court where you need canon lawyers (;-D That is simply hysterical.
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I thought that was the second most important law? Anyway, doesn’t loving others imply a moral NECESSITY to act in certain, particular ways (i.e. a moral law!), which implies meaningful consequences for oneself should one fail?
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Indeed, I’ve never understood how no one is perplexed that you can’t swing a golf club or a baseball bat or shoot a free throw a certain way if you hope to be good at it. The same goes for most disciplines that I can think of, in fact off the top of my head I can’t think of any. If you’re born with extremely gifted talent you still need to be disciplined to cultivate that talent and if you have next to no talent, practice still makes you better.
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And most of becoming a good Catholic is developing good, moral habits. Eventually they should become second nature and one is not having to continually think of these things. You are then given other challenges to help move you to holiness; challenges in prayer, hidden imperfections that start to become clearer etc. Mortal sin is usually easy to eradicate for most people, venial less so, and the imperfections are the works of our saints.
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In spiritual direction with habit and grace given from God with regular practice of confession, the temptation of mortal sin becomes less.
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Reblogged this on Annie.
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