June 30: "For freedom Christ has set us free."
The Lord has called all of us to be his and to follow him. Love is what our lives are all about. Perhaps we look back wistfully at what might have been, or even what had been before when we had more freedom. To live in that nostalgia is not healthy for us, because it stops us freely responding to God’s love here and now. But even though the Lord calls us, he does not coerce us.
In the first reading, Elisha destroys his livelihood in order to follow Elijah. He removed any impediment to doing God’s will. What impediments do we have in our lives? Food? Drink? The internet? St. Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Any patterns of sin or resentment in our hearts constrain us and make it difficult for us to love. If we feel that the way we serve is not free, then we cannot do it out of love, and where is the merit in that?
Let us abide in the Trinitarian life of love instead of using our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. When we are healed, we are free to not retaliate to criticism, but to know that we are still loved by God and take our identity from our dignity as sons and daughters of God. The Lord wants to free us by our choosing him. Let there be no rival to God in our lives – including ourselves!
