What is FREEDOM?

Freedom: doing what I want a license to do anything they want unmindful of others and the consequences of their actions Most people are free to make choices, for example: What kind of work we do Where we live Where we travel How we get there Who our friends are What we eat How we decorate our homes. However, the amount of freedom we have to make choices is limited by our responsibilities to others. For example when we go out into the playground there are places where we are not allowed to tear about or kick a football. If we did, younger children might get hurt, or we would deny the pleasure of children who want to play quieter games. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. -Galatians 5:13 Church Teaching Pastoral Constitution in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes 17) Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. Our contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and rightly so, to be sure. Often, however, they foster it perversely as a license for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil. Pastoral Constitution in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes 17) For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of divine image within man. For God has willed that man be left in the hand of his own counsel so that he can seek his creator spontaneously, and come freely to utter and blissful perfection through loyalty to Him. Freedom: is a gift given to us by God in creating us rational beings. By our authentic exercise of freedom, we choose what is good. CFC - speaks of authentic exercise of freedom the right to say and do anything but to do the good shared freedom with others in the community The second paragraph of the Church teaching above speaks of an essential and inalienable characteristic of the human person which makes him the image of God.

 When we choose and pursue what is good, we become truly free. When we choose and pursue what is good, we become truly free. Conversion is possible through Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit who enables us to change from evil to what is good for others and for ourselves. Authentic Freedom: freedom from everything that opposes our true self-becoming with others in community. freedom for growing as full persons and children of God, sharing in the life of Christ our liberator through his Spirit. It is the freedom found in authentic love, (CFC 696-697). Summary: Freedom is authentically exercised in choosing and pursuing what is morally good. -act by someone who is created in Gods image and likeness. -we gradually shape our own life and can become the person we are called to be in following Jesus Christ, our Lord. Levels of Freedom Morals: exercise their freedom authentically to grow as children of God; Doctrine: understand that through Jesus Christ we can have the power to live as children of God; Worship: pray so as to nourish, develop and sustain their personal relationship with Christ. Sacred Scripture: Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he does all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die. freedom from is a deliverance from anything and everything that hinders us from doing the good and developing the true self as we grow with others in the community. Interior obstacles Exterior obstacles freedom from SIN freedom for is the power to work towards a fulfillment to which our nature is ordered and to which Christ invites us, namely, full life in the Kingdom. CHURCH TEACHING: Catechism for the Filipino Catholics 697 Two levels of the individual persons freedom for stand out, 1) the freedom of choice by which I direct moral acts, and 2) the fundamental freedom of my very self. Human Person->Free Acts->Fundamental Freedom