In just a few days we celebrate Independence Day (of our nation, not the blockbuster movie!), as we remember the freedom that has been given to us through the sweat and blood of those who have been before us as well as the responsibility that we have to those who will follow us.
There's a lot of talk about it, but what exactly is "freedom"? What does our faith have to say about the concept? Throughout both the Old and the New Testaments, Scripture clearly states that humans have free choice and that we are morally responsible for our actions. In fact, that's why Jesus died on the cross for our sins (which are the bad choices we freely make, offending God) and we are invited to take up our own crosses and follow him. This is something that simply makes no sense unless we have the freedom to choose or to reject. To put it simply, real love (of which God is the personification) can only come to fulfilment if it is freely chosen. Without the freedom to make a real choice of whether to love or not to love, it is merely coercion and manipulation.

Freedom. It's a word that is applied to many different situations. For example, freedom can be:

• Physical freedom - the lack of actual physical restraint on our actions (e.g. not in jail or confined to a sickbed)
• Liberty - the lack of constraint placed by an authority over someone's actions (for example, a teenager asking a parent to borrow the care)
• Political freedom - the ability of a citizen to participate in the political affairs of a state or to more directly affect those affairs (by voting or running for political office)

Surprisingly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) does not directly address these popularly understood aspects of freedom. Instead, it goes right to the heart of the concept, saying that it 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" (CCC paragraph 1731). It is important to have a good understanding of what exactly constitutes a freely-chosen human act before we can fruitfully discuss the concept of freedom.

How does a person have freedom to choose one thing over another? Ironically, the great Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas gives an answer that in a way refers to itself: in a free choice, the person by their own act of will directs their will towards one option rather than towards the other (or others). This is probably why it is so difficult for most people - myself included - to understand many philosophical concepts! 
However, if one thinks about this for a moment, it begins to make sense. Our will draws upon past experiences, what we have been taught and what we have learned - in other words, our reason and our intelligence, known as our intellect - and then applies it to the present situation, choosing what we believe will provide the best good for ourselves - and hopefully for others. We do this many times every day, often with little conscious effort. The key, whether the choice is a small one or one that may have profound impact upon our lives and others, is to have the best possible understanding of what is truly good for us (a "personal" good) and for others (the common good).
From the beginning of the human species, God has given us the ability to make free choices. In fact, this is what substantially separates us from the rest of visible creation: although we are subject to instinctual impulses (for example, the need to obtain food, to seek safety, to protect our loved ones; which in themselves are neither good nor bad, simply something we are normally compelled to do), humanity alone has the ability to go beyond (and sometimes against) those instincts due to our free choice.
These can be directed towards a good end (known as virtues) or an ill end (known as vices) and so are given moral value (they can be good choices or bad choices).Our current fallen human state was brought about through a bad choice made by the first parents Adam and Eve, which resulted in the state of Original Sin which we inherit from them at our birth and is removed by Baptism. We can continue to propel ourselves further down that fallen state through personal sin - our own poor choices - or direct ourselves towards God by making good choices. This is the basic concept of morality and the moral (or human) act.

By free choice we fashion who we shall be: when I choose one option rather than another, I shape an aspect of myself in the direction of the option chosen. This is part of what makes our salvation a process and not a one-time event (as many evangelical Protestants believe occurs when one accepts Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior). Although there may be special circumstances in which God permits "deathbed confessions" (such as the Good Thief on his cross next to Jesus in Luke 23:39-43), for most of us it is done through a lifetime of making good, informed moral choices, striving towards saying "yes" to God in smaller ways and ordering our souls in conforming to God's will, that readies us to say that final and eternal "Yes" when we stand before His throne.

So what exactly is freedom? Although manifesting itself in many different ways, at its core freedom is a vital part within each of us, the part that offers us the path to - or away from - true happiness with God. The best way to grow in freedom is to perform good acts. The road to the loss of freedom is through evil acts. Sin makes us slaves of evil and reduces our capacity to be free. True freedom comes from being moral and ordering one's life towards fellowship with God. Slavery from sin arises from being immoral and habitually making choices that turn us away from God. Besides the spiritual effects that our faith tells us each of these have, there are also very concrete effects that following these directions provide, effects which either benefit or negatively impact our relationships with others and even within ourselves.

For more information on freedom and the moral act, check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 1730-1748, "Man's Freedom"

As part of giving thanks to God for our freedom, we invite you to join us for Mass on Monday July 4th at 9AM. What a great way to start a day that celebrates the gifts we've been given!