independence day freedom: 10th week Wednesday 2013

Why is it that people tend to view laws negatively?  Why do people look at the law as a burden, as something that stifles freedom.  When the seminarians went back to the seminary after a two month vacation some of them left a parting message on their facebook accounts saying, vacation is over, goodbye freedom.  Now they are entering a community with so many rules one of which is they cannot open their facebook – so vacation is over, goodbye freedom.

Why do people view laws negatively and when we read the psalms for example we get surprised when we say “how I love your law O Lord, it is my mediation day and night.”  Or get ill-at-ease when we say, the law of the Lord is for me more precious than gold, more precious than a heap of purest gold.  So why do we say seemingly with a sigh of regret, vacation is over, goodbye freedom?

The law of the Lord does not stifle freedom but guides us to live in the truth, in the truth of who we are and in the truth of what we are called to become.  We have laws and rules because we want to live in the truth of who we are.  We are not animals, we are not savages, we are human beings, we are a civilized nation, we are children of God, we are made in God’s image and likeness.  Rules and laws help us to live our identity.  So it is not true that rules stifle freedom.  In reality if rules are just and are derived from the law of God, they would help us live a life that is in consonance with our true self.

This is what Jesus is saying when he said that he did not come to abolish the law.  Independence and freedom does not mean to live without rules and laws.  Independence does not mean to do what we like.  Freedom does not give us the license to live wanton lives.  Rather true freedom means to live our lives according to its true dignity and worth.

In this day of the anniversary of our freedom as a nation may we finally learn to respect laws, may we learn to live by the rules of honest living, may we learn to act conscious of our duties and responsibilities to our community and nation even if no one is watching.  may we learn to say your laws give joy to my heart not because they are a burden but because they help me live my true dignity, my true identity as a follower of Jesus, as a catholic, as a child of God and as a Filipino.