Does anyone remember the movie Born Free, about a captured lioness who is returned to the wild? (Her name was Elsa, but I cannot remember the name of the humans involved, can you?)
In Born Free, the image of freedom is about Elsa. The freedom Elsa earned was the freedom she deserved " to live, hunt, procreate, to act according to her nature. This freedom has more to do with the freedom of Elsa than it does genuine Christian freedom.
Christian freedom is at odds with the "freedom" presented in our "modern" society, the “do whatever seems natural and right to you” freedom, “as long as you are not hurting someone else” freedom. The real tragedy of this ideology is that it is not really freedom, but a slavery " not to the law as the Pharisees were in our Gospel today, not to the law Paul refers to in his letter either " but a slavery to the passions of the moment which are little better than " no, they are a little worse than " the natural yet irrational instincts that drove Elsa.
Why worse? Because we are rational beings, created with an intellect and a will for so much more. We are made to embrace the freedom of genuine choice " not the pro-choice selfishness advertised so successfully these days " but the genuine choice of the children of God who have the freedom to deny themselves for their own good or the good of others.
Denial is a key component of genuine Christian freedom. Look at the Cross to see the proof of that. Look at martyrs of the Christian faith, morals and institution. Look at couples practicing Natural Family Planning. Look at priests, nuns and other consecrated religious who take the vow of lifelong celibacy. Look at the sacrifices parents make for their children.
One of the biggest lies perpetrated in our culture today is that "true freedom" includes a sexual freedom to do as you please, when you please. That is not freedom, but slavery " slavery to what I call the remnants of animal instincts. (Even that might be giving it too much credit because animals engage their instincts for procreative purposes, while humans prevent it.)
Contraception = Sexual freedom? No, it is slavery, and we were not made to be slaves of our "passions" any more than we were made to be blind slaves to a set of rules.
Christ did come to set us free. Free from "the law"; free from "instinct"; free to live a life of formed and rational love of Him and others.
"Born Free"? No. Born for His love.
