T
oday we are taking up again our reflection on the Letter to the Galatians in which St. Paul wrote immortal words on Christian freedom. What is Christian freedom? Freedom is a treasure that is truly appreciated only when it is lost. For many of us who are used to being free, it often appears to be an acquired right rather than a gift and a legacy to be preserved. How many misunderstandings there are around the topic of freedom, and how many different views have clashed over the cen- turies! In the case of the Galatians, the Apostle could not bear that those Christians, after having known and accepted the truth of Christ, allowed themselves to be attracted to deceptive proposals, moving from freedom to slavery: from the liberating presence of Jesus to slavery to sin, to legalism, and so forth. Even today, legal- ism is one of our problems for so many Christians who take refuge in legalism, in sophistry. Paul therefore invites the Christians to remain firm in the freedom they had received in baptism, without allowing themselves to be put once again under the "yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). He is rightly jealous of this freedom. He is aware that some "false brothers" - this is what he calls them - have crept into the community to "spy on" - this is what he says - "our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage" (Gal 24) - to turn backward. And Paul cannot toler- ate this. ... You can never force in the name of Jesus; you cannot make anyone a slave in the name of Jesus who makes us free. Free- dom is a gift which was given to us in baptism. But above all, St. Paul's teach- ing about freedom is positive. The Apostle proposes the teaching of Jesus that we find in the Gospel of John as well: "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (8:31-32). Therefore, the call is above all to remain in Jesus, the source of truth who makes us free. Christian freedom, therefore, is founded on two fundamental pillars: first, the grace of the Lord Jesus; second, the truth that Christ reveals to us and which is he him- self. First of all, it is a gift from the Lord . The freedom that the Gala- tians had received - and we, like them, in our baptism - is the fruit of the death and resurrection of Je- sus. The Apostle concentrates his entire proclamation on Christ, who had liberated him from the bonds of his past life: only from him do the fruits of the new life according to the Spirit flow. In fact, the truest freedom, that from slavery to sin, flows from the cross of Christ. We are free from slavery to sin by the cross of Christ. Right there, where Jesus allowed himself to be nailed, making himself a slave, God placed the source of the liberation of the human person. This never ceases to amaze us: that the place where we are stripped of every freedom, that is, death, might be- come the source of freedom. But this is the mystery of God's love! It is not easily understood, but it is lived. Jesus himself had proclaimed it when he said: "For this reason the Father loves me, be- cause I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own ac- cord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (Jn 10:17-18). Jesus achieves com- plete freedom by giving himself up to death; he knows that only in this way could he obtain life for everyone. Paul, we know, had experienced first-hand this mystery of love. For this reason, he says to the Ga- latians, using an extremely bold expression: "I have been crucified with Christ" (Gal 2:19). In that act of supreme union with the Lord, he knew he had received the great- est gift of his life: freedom. On the cross, in fact, he had nailed "his flesh with its passions and desires" (5:24). We understand how much faith filled the Apostle, how great was his intimacy with Jesus. And while, on the one hand, we know this is what we are missing, on the other hand, the Apostle's testi- mony encourages us to continue in this life of freedom. The Christian is free, should be free, and is called not to return to being a slave of precepts and strange things. The second pillar of freedom is the truth . In this case as well, it is necessary to remember that the truth of faith is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, who touches the daily and overall meaning of personal life. How many people there are who have never studied, who do not even know how to read and write, but who have understood Christ's message well, who have this free- dom that makes them free. It is Christ's wisdom that has entered them through the Holy Spirit in baptism. How many people do we find who live the life of Christ bet- ter than great theologians, for ex- ample, offering a tremendous wit- ness of the freedom of the Gospel. Freedom makes us free to the ex- tent to which it transforms a per- son's life and directs it toward the good. So as to be truly free, we not only need to know ourselves on the psychological level, but above all to practice truth in ourselves on a more profound level - and there, in our heart, open ourselves to the grace of Christ. Truth must disturb us - let's return to this extremely Christian word: restlessness. We know that there are Christians who are never restless: their lives are always the same, there is no movement in their hearts, they lack restlessness. Why? Because restlessness is a sign that the Holy Spirit is working inside us and freedom is an ac- tive freedom, that comes from the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is why I say that freedom must disturb us, it must constantly question us, so that we might always plunge deeper into what we really are. In this way we will discover that the journey of truth and freedom is an arduous one that lasts a lifetime.
GUEST COMMENTARY POPE FRANCIS I 4 OPINION
THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS OCTOBER 15, 2021
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On not buying into the mythology of 'prestige' universities
S
ome years ago, a Catholic prep school invited me to address its parents' association on the future of Cath- olic education. After describing how a truly Catholic education, stressing human and sacramental forma- tion as well as intellectual competence, equipped young people to meet the challenges of a world that had lost its way, I got into a protracted dust-up during the Q&A. In my prepared remarks, I had extolled the virtues of small Catholic liberal arts colleges with rigorous core curricula that introduced students to the best that west- ern civilization has to offer. I also took a few shots at the high-priced schools that fill the top tiers of those foolish college-ratings systems, but which are too often sand- boxes of political correctness in which intellectual silli- ness (and worse) is on tap for something like $90,000 per annum. The pushback was fierce. Unless Johnny or Jane went to Stanford or Duke or the Ivies, parents insisted, he or she would be ruined for life. I countered with the example of my daughters, graduates of the University of Dallas who had gone on to fulfilling family and profes- sional lives after attending top-tier graduate schools (in medicine and arts education) for which UD had prepared them magnificently. The pushback continued. What about "networking"? I suggested that serious professional "networking" took place in grad school and that the undergraduate years were better spent furnishing one's mind and soul than in schmoozing with an eye to the main chance - especially in a campus environment hostile to Catholic understand- ings of what makes for genuine human happiness. This went on for 45 minutes or so, but I don't think minds were changed. Too many parents had drunk the Kool-Aid of "prestige schools" for me to make much of a dent. The following morning, I had coffee with some of the monks in charge of the school, several of whom thanked me for hav- ing challenged the myth of the prestige school; they had tried for years to do the same, and to no effect. Did I have any sug- gestions for trying again? After a moment's reflection I said, in so many words, "Next Septem- ber, send the parents of every entering senior a copy of Tom Wolfe's novel, "I Am Charlotte Simmons." It's pretty raw at points, but it's an accurate por- trait of undergraduate life at a high-end university and it fits right into your view of educa- tion - because in Wolfe's telling, the bright young innocent of the title gets intellectually cor- rupted before she gets morally corrupted. Being told there's no such thing as 'the truth' in a first-year class is the opening wedge to her finally caving-in to the behavioral pressures pandemic on campus and getting abused by a hotshot athlete." I don't know whether my advice was followed, but I still commend that splash of cold water to parents overheated by the notion that "networking" (at a very high price tag) is worth the human cost of four years filled with intel- lectual nonsense and social pressures no young person should have to confront. My friends at the aforementioned University of Dallas recently confirmed my thinking with some instructive statistics. UD offers one of the most rigorous core cur- ricula in the country in a campus climate where woke is not king (or even deuce-of-clubs), where Catholicism is celebrated rather than deprecated, and where undergrad- uates are transformed by a Rome semester from which they emerge as custodians of a civilizational heritage. So how do its graduates do in the competition for graduate school? In 2019, UD grads had an 84% medical school ac- ceptance rate: twice the national average, 21% higher than Cornell in 2016, higher than Duke in 2017 or Dartmouth in 2020, and higher than Penn, Johns Hopkins, and USC in recent years. Moreover, UD was first in the country in the percentage of its math and statistics majors who later earned doctoral degrees in those fields. The numbers make it clear: the best of Catholic liberal arts education prepares students for any intellectual or professional en- deavor - and does so in a far healthier environment. Parents and high school seniors making those tough college decisions would do well to look beyond the "U.S. News and World Report" college rankings and consider UD, Benedictine College, the University of Mary, Christen- dom College, Thomas Aquinas College, and other small Catholic liberal arts colleges. By any measure, they punch far above their weight. And as a rule, they don't graduate woke snowflakes, detached from or contemptuous about Catholicism.
THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE George Weigel
BY FATHER TADEUSZ PACHOLCZYK
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AT THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC BIOETHICS CENTER
I
recently watched a compelling video prepared by a group called "Heartbeat International." They provide women, who regret having taken an abortion pill, the chance to reverse their decision through a treatment involving progesterone. The protocol, though not yet officially "peer- reviewed," appears to work well if the woman doesn't wait too long, and the video includes pictures and rescue dates of many beautiful babies who have been saved this way. What also caught my attention were the stories of several nurses working at Heartbeat International. "I wanted to help out in a meaningful way," one of them, named Amanda, said. "I was very excited to hear about abortion-pill reversal for the first time- I thought: God just brought that in front of me, and I think that's what I'm meant to do." She went on to share a follow-up from two mothers whom she had recently assisted. "They sent me pictures on WhatsApp after they had their babies. - I'm so thankful for their courage and their brav- ery. They talked about how much they love their babies and I'm just so happy for them. I'm just so grateful God gave me that opportunity to speak with both of them. I've never had this kind of fulfillment in any previous nursing job that I've had - that feeling of Yes! - I'm making a difference in someone's life, -a difference in eternity." Every child saved this way is someone who now enjoys the opportunity to grow up, go to school, get married, have kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. It clearly makes an incalcu- lable difference for that child, as well as for untold others. An "eternal difference." Each of us would like for our lives and our work to "make a difference;" a lasting, impactful, and eternal difference. It should come as no small consolation to understand that whenever we make deliberate moral choices for the good or turn away from what is wrong, we are already starting to make those "eternal differences." Through such decisions of consequence, we align our own will with God's, and con- tribute, in his wisdom, to rectifying the many patterns of sin around and within us. Such decisions enable us to collabo- rate with his all-encompassing redemptive plan. In the field of bioethics, these "decisions of consequence" arise with great regularity. When one of our ethicists at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, for example, helps a husband and wife to understand the moral problems sur- rounding in vitro fertilization, not only can this help them avoid the tragedy of trapping their young offspring in "fro- zen orphanages," but it can also help them reflect on deeper questions like, "What does our infertility really mean?," and, "How does God want us to be fruitful?" This can lead them to consider new paths of grace, like reaching out to kids in the community who are parentless, through mentoring pro- grams such as Big Brother/Big Sister, or through pursuing the generous path of foster parenting and adoption. Such generosity is another "decision of consequence" where we stand to make an eternal difference. Our "decisions of consequence" need not be great or lofty gestures; they can be quite simple. I recall a true story first relayed by John W. Schlatter in 1993, that has circulated widely since. Bill was walking home after his junior high school classes, his arms full of books and other items from his locker. At a certain point, everything spilled out of his arms, and anoth- er boy named Mark witnessed it and came over to help him pick it up off the ground, making some friendly small talk. The two of them decided to spend part of the afternoon to- gether, playing games and goofing off. In succeeding weeks and months, they became friends. Years later, Bill was reminiscing with Mark, and he brought up the day they first met. "Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" he asked. "I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time to- gether talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more: you saved my life." In a sense, each day for us involves a walk along the threshold of eternity, through small and not-so-small ges- tures, even though we may not always see the full implica- tions of each of our decisions. Each day we have a chance to make beautiful, potentially life-saving and indeed eternal "decisions of consequence."
'Decisions of
consequence'
CNS PHOTO PAUL HARING
Pope Francis is seen in the main aisle as he leaves his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Oct. 6.
Christian freedom: Christ has set us free
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