HUMAN FREEDOM
Catechism for Filipino Catholics
Part Two – Christ, Our Way
Chapter 13 – Living as Disciples of Christ
HUMAN FREEDOM
• Throughout the world today, there is
an unprecedented drive for freedom,
for breaking out all the old structures
of political oppression, racial
prejudice, economic injustice, and
constricting cultural mores.
CFC # 693
HUMAN FREEDOM
• But it is so easy to confuse human
freedom with simply “doing what I
want.”
• Authentic freedom is NOT “the right
to say and do anything,” but to “do
the good”.
CFC # 694; cf. CCC 1740
HUMAN FREEDOM
• It is NOT my individual private
possession, but a shared freedom
with others in community. It is NOT
found in prejudice, deceit, or
ignorance, but in truth.
CFC # 694; cf. Jn 8:32
HUMAN FREEDOM
• The pillars of this freedom are “the
truth about Jesus the Savior, the
truths about the Church, and the
truth about man and his dignity.”
CFC # 694; cf. ITL, XI, 5
“FREEDOM FROM”
• We become sharply aware of the
value of our freedom only when we
are forced to do something against
our will. Then we realize how much
we long to be free from things
imposed to us.
CFC # 695
“FREEDOM FROM”
• But this “freedom from” all restraints
can often result in following selfish
inclinations or blind prejudices rather
than seeking what is truly good.
CFC # 695; cf. Gal 5:1,13,16; 1 Pt 2:16
“FREEDOM FROM”
• Authentic freedom, involves first of
all freedom from everything that
opposes our true self-becoming with
others in community.
CFC # 696
“FREEDOM FROM”
• Interior obstacles – ignorance,
disordered passions, fears,
personality defects, bad habits,
prejudices or psychological
disturbances.
• Exterior forces – violent force or
even the threat of violence.
CFC # 696
“FREEDOM FROM”
• These impediments are commonly
traced to three sources: biological –
inherited handicaps and defects as
well as external substances like
drugs; psychological – interior
compulsions, including those from
the unconscious;
CFC # 696, cf. CCC 1740
“FREEDOM FROM”
• Social pressures – economic,
political, and cultural obstacles which
impede the right to freedom.
• But the greatest single obstacle to
authentic freedom is SIN.
CFC # 696, cf. CCC 1740
“FREEDOM FOR”
• This freedom from is obviously
directed towards a second freedom,
the more important “freedom for”.
• Beyond being liberated from all the
obstacles, authentic freedom is the
freedom for growing as full persons
and children of God...in authentic
love. (personal dimension)
CFC # 697
“FREEDOM FOR”
• Two levels of the individual person’s
“freedom for”:
(1) freedom of choice – my moral acts,
(2) fundamental freedom – my very
self.
CFC # 697
“FREEDOM FOR”
• In the first level, we have the
freedom to choose to act in this or
that way, to do good or evil.
• But by consistently choosing to do
the good, we gradually become free
loving persons, the second level.
CFC # 697; cf. VS 65-68
“FREEDOM FOR”
• Our personal “freedom for” is both a
process – gradual growth, and a task
– striving to overcome the obstacles
from within and without, towards
authentic, mature fundamental (self)
freedom.
CFC # 697
FREEDOM OF THE
CHILDREN OF GOD
• The goal of this process and task of
personal freedom is “to be set free
from slavery to corruption and
share in the glorious freedom of the
children of God.”
• Freedom “to attain the good” simply
means to “act as Jesus did.”
CFC # 698, cf. Rom 8:21; CCC 1742
FREEDOM OF THE
CHILDREN OF GOD
• It is the power of Christ’s Spirit
within us that liberates us from sin,
the law and death, for a life of loving
service wherein we find our true
selves by imitating Christ Jesus, our
Lord.
CFC # 699, cf. Rom Chapter 5; Gal 5:22
EXERCISE OF RESPONSIBLE
FREEDOM
• We come to know what is moral
good in the light of the Gospel and
human experience.
• Our moral life works through our
conscience, “the most secret core
and sanctuary of a man, where he is
alone with God...
CFC # 700; cf. GS 16
EXERCISE OF RESPONSIBLE
FREEDOM
• Moral conscience is the expression
of the divine law, defining what is
good and what is evil.
• It is our conscience that indicates for
us how we are to love God and our
neighbor.
CFC # 700; cf. Rom 1:32; CCC 1778
