On this weekend of celebrating America’s freedom, let us take a look at what Jesus and St. Paul say about spiritual freedom.  

Jesus:  “The truth will make you free.”

Paul says: “For freedom Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Gal 5:1

The freedom St. Paul was referring to in his letter to the Galations was spiritual freedom – the soul-deep liberation of those who live by Spirit, not by human ego or worldly values.  Paul was encouraging the Galations to become spiritually emancipated – to completely and permanently awaken to their full potential.

How does this apply to us?  We, too, are called to spiritual freedom.  It requires that we release anything and everything that limits or restricts us from becoming our highest selves and fulfilling our divine destinies.  As we release the “yoke of slavery,” we must take on the mind of Christ as revealed through Jesus and other master teachers.

We all live in some kind of bondage, some of us in one kind, some in another; some in a bondage of “lack;” some in a bondage of “remorse and resentment;” some in a prison of “blind, unintelligent fears;” some in a prison of “sickness.”  The prison is often in our thoughts and not in the nature of things.  Jesus Christ’s teaching comes to us and says: “Pick up your bed and walk;” “Your faith has saved you;” “Go, and sin no more;”   “Follow me and you will have the light of life.”  Scripture gives us many more invitations from Jesus and St. Paul to embrace spiritual freedom.

When we have the Mind of Christ, we know the Truth and the Truth sets us free – free from the bondage of fear, ignorance, and self-defeating attitudes and ideas.       

Recently we celebrated the great Solemnity of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowering, freeing, and loving us to do good for all humankind.  In other words, the Spirit gives us the “mind of Christ.”

Sr. Mary