What it is to be truly FREE in the seminary?

            

             Our responsible freedom here in the seminary is a gift from God. Because of this gift we can choose to heed God’s call to be truly happy by following Jesus Christ in our everyday living here in the community. Through the Holy Spirit, who strengthens me to do what is good, our freedom is perfected, bearing fruit in our loving service to God and our neighbour. St. Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Corinthians: “where the Spirit of the Lord, there is freedom” (2cor 3:17).

              In my moral living here in the seminary since June I can say that we are persons (the seminarians) called to true freedom. In His goodness, God created us free human persons, set apart from the rest of creation, yet charged with responsibility over it. Thence, we are created in the image of God who freely chose to share His goodness with us, thus, we are called to do good. I realize that we become fully ourselves only through grace, freely chosen acts that express pour dignity as created, saved and strengthened beings by the Triune God. Indeed, our freedom is at the heart of our human becoming. In the seminary, since my college years I really appreciated that in growing in authentic freedom we are to follow Christ, who empowers us through the Holy Spirit in becoming truly free. I also reflected that with my experiences with people and the rules in the seminary there I understood what it means to be truly be free.

I realize, however, that growing in freedom means so much more than having more options. Being truly free here in the seminary also means growing in my capacity to ACT RESPONSIBLY. Now that I can do more things, I am much expected to put my capacity to good use. This I mean choosing the best in me inside the seminary what I know is good. To specify some, doing my daily household chores here in the seminary though many thought it as just a simple thing to do yet it has a great impact on my part as a free seminarian. Acting responsibly may mean not littering, not lying, not wasting time on the computer or cell phone and not using illegal drugs. By experience, we know that acting responsibly upholds our genuine personal responsible freedom and the true freedom of our families and circle of friends.

 As I grow in my understanding of responsible freedom or simply freedom, I also grow in an awareness of my duty to protect my freedom here in my community (the seminary). Freedom then, is something immeasurable in the scientific sense.no machine can assess the degree of freedom of an individual person or of the community. The good thing is that are our own freedom meters, who can use reason to understand what Christ life and teachings says about what it means to be truly free. Freedom is something we experience as persons- in our capacity to choose, in our individual choices and in the person we become through our choices.

 In growing up, we naturally gain more experience and more responsibilities, and because of this, some people thought that their freedom is ought to be limitless. They feel that they should be able to do whatever they want even if it destroys the true freedom of others. Thus, all forms of restraint- rules and obligations, commitments, norms or standards and accepted ways of doing things- are taken as limitations on freedom. What they desire most is to have the freedom to do as they please. One example of this idea of absolute freedom is the clamour of some people for the absolute right over their lives and bodies, especially the right to commit abortion and euthanasia. This manifestation of the culture of death, is rooted in the basic error that sees God, the living Tradition of the Catholic Church and everything that guides all persons toward authentic freedom as a hindrance to absolute freedom to do whatever one wants. Imagine some claiming the freedom to murder, to rape, steal, and lie as their right.

The Ten Commandments do not only prohibit, but more importantly, express what we should do to be truly free: worship God and always respect the life, marriage, property and honor of all persons. These moral obligations are essential in our life as a community; without them, the only norm would be brute force, or having things “my way”. True freedom, therefore, is not our capacity to do anything we WANT, but our capacity to do what we ought as persons-in-community. In short, true freedom is ‘’doing GOOD’’. Through God’s sanctifying grace, we grow more and more in the likeness of Christ.