This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
When it comes to matters of the Christian life, redeemed is my favorite word. Redeemed means bought with a price.
Every time I walk into a store, I need to decide if the item I want to buy is worth the money they are asking for it. The decision may be swayed with how badly I need the item or if I just want it. In either case, is it worth the trade? Is this item worth the exchange for my money?
You were bought with a price. Your freedom from sin came at a cost, but not to you. Jesus paid the price for your freedom.
Being free brings a remarkable opportunity. You can take God up on His offer to be adopted. He couldn’t adopt you before because you belonged to someone else, but since He’s paid the price of your redemption, you are now free to choose to belong to Him.
Next in the prayer, we ask for His grace because when we believe in Christ we can receive true freedom and everlasting inheritance.
There are times in everyone’s life that we want to be free, free from the rules of an organization, free from a schedule imposed on us, free to do what we want when we want it.
St. John Paul II said that “True freedom consists not in doing what we like but in doing what we ought.” This is not “freedom from,” it is “freedom for.” The freedom to choose the good.
If you want to know what true freedom looks like, pick up a crucifix. No one forced Jesus to get on the cross. He did it freely. Jesus used His “freedom for” to pay for our “freedom from” sin. In Galatians 5:1, Paul tells us that for freedom Christ has set us free.
Being in possession of true freedom, freedom to radically love and give, sounds pretty scary, doesn't it? Don’t worry, though, because it doesn’t happen all at once. The more time we spend getting to know Jesus, the more we find ourselves wanting to love like He does.
Everlasting inheritance is the result of our freedom to love. When we are so open to the love of God, we allow the Spirit to truly penetrate our being. So confident in the love of God, we now are free to receive the fulness of God and give away all of who we are.
This exchange, the receiving and giving of the love of God, begins in our lives the moment that we comprehend the price that Jesus paid for us and we fulfill His desire to make each one of us just like Him - another child of God.