“Who the Son sets free is free indeed!” This claim of Jesus in John 8 has been a constant theme for me over the last few months. As the Lord has continued to draw me closer to him, I have been contemplating what it means to be truly Christ. For each one of us who is baptized, the supernatural life of God is within us, but I often feel like my outward expression of life isn’t always representative of the gift of new life I have been given by God.

Freedom is allowing the reality of who we are in Christ to be so rooted in us that we are no longer weighed down by sin and shame. One of the ways we see whether we are growing in freedom is if we are free to love others. As I have reflected on living in deeper freedom, I began to ask the questions:

“How freely does love flow from me for others? Am I growing in my desire to love? Am I growing in the fruits of the Spirit?”

The more that I am living in the freedom that Jesus won for me on the cross, the more that looks like being quick to forgive, slow to anger, abounding in kindness. As we grow in freedom interiorly, we become increasingly free to love.

“Who the Son sets free is free indeed!” is a promise from the heart of Jesus. He has truly set us free through his death and resurrection. Let us pray today that we may walk in deeper freedom so that we may be free to love others.

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Truth from Scripture:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 2:17

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Wisdom from the Saints:

“No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.”

// St. Ignatius of Antioch