V.J.E.
This year, as we prepare to celebrate the First Vows of our sisters, we want to share with you a series of reflections on how living our religious life and professing the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience allow us to live in freedom, totality, faithfulness, and fruitfulness each day. This series is inspired by St. Pope John Paul II’s reflections in the Theology of the Body.
This reflection on freedom is written by Sr. Raquel of the Holy Spirit Gutierrez, HMSS.
“A Free and Total Love”
When proclaiming our profession formula at the altar, a statement we make is:
“I consecrate myself to God with a free and total love…” As sisters, when we have arrived at this point in our religious life, when we profess our vows to Jesus publicly, this is our marriage declaration. We are responding to the Love of all time who has called us to Himself, Jesus Christ, the one who gave His complete self for us in obedience to the Father. We declare our consecration in complete freedom, from an abundance of praise and thanksgiving in our hearts, from a cup that is overflowing (Psalm 23:5). In complete freedom and love we profess a life fully given over to the One who has fully given Himself over to us for the sake of our freedom (Gal. 5:1).”
We have the freedom to make choices, to do what is right or to choose otherwise, to follow Jesus or not to follow Him. While the world may see our life as sisters as restricted, and yes, as Christians we are called to renounce things, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). The denial of ourselves and the renouncement of relationships, possessions, control, and our own time leads us to greater freedom in Christ in two ways. First, we are free to give ourselves totally and radically to Jesus Christ (the Source and Summit of our freedom) and from that same place of a transforming relationship in Him, He breaks our chains through the Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Lectio Divina (encountering Him in His word), the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and many other ways. Jesus’ transforming love gives us the freedom to live a life in Him, to continue to choose God’s will every day, and to blossom into the person He calls us to be. Second, the fruit of this is that as Jesus fills us with His love, we grow in freedom to love others with the love of Christ. A free and total love for Christ sets us up for a free and total love for others.
As Christians (vowed or not) in order to grow in freedom, we are called to let go of things that keep us captive. It can be things like television, social media, a love for our reputation, or internal captivities like pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, grudges, addictions, unbelief, comfort, or even laziness or procrastination. True freedom is the ability to put our wills aside and do the will of God. The freer we become by letting go of attachments, the more we can grow in inner freedom. Juan de Bonilla, a Franciscan Bishop, said “true freedom is not being attached to anything.” A question to ask ourselves is: what are those things that I am attached to that interfere with my freedom in Christ and giving myself totally to Him?
Each moment of prayer is an opportunity to give ourselves over to Jesus once again, and His love sets us free! As Mercedarians, we are called to be free and help set others free. Pray for us in our redemptive work, to grow in inner freedom as we pray and work to help set others free. Our Lady of Ransom, pray for us!