Saint for the day: Blessed John of Parma (1209 – 1289)

 Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92,95 –Daniel 3:52…56 –John 8:31-42

 “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”

 The first question that I would ask is, “who is really free? And what does freedom mean?”

The Jews at the time of Jesus claimed that they were free. “We have never been slaves to anybody.” That statement is also very typical of how many of us would see our lives. None of us would admit that we are “slaves” to anything yet if we look closely at our lives we would see that there are many “things” that pull us away from being truly free. Just look anywhere in our world today and ask, “what price are people willing to pay for true “freedom?” How many people around our world are being “tried” in furnaces of humiliation in order to be “free?”

And so, it’s easy for me to say, like the Jews, “I’m not a slave to anyone (or anything).” Yet there are so many “things” in my life that pull me away from accepting the “easy yoke and lite burden” of Jesus. As we move into the most Holy Week of the Church year can we begin to look at our lives and see maybe just one or two things that we need to be purified of. I’m not talking about being thrown into a fiery furnace. Just take the time to find one areas of your life that you need to be free from. If you’re like me you’ll probably start with a long list! And this is what often keeps us from really making any headway in our desire to be “free indeed.” As St. Francis said, “stone by stone – slow by slow as the Africans say” and the church gets built. We are the Church. And if the Church is to be vibrant we will have to change. Little by little. No dramatic conversions needed right now. Just one small change in our life – one small step – in order to begin to move into real freedom.

 “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed!”