Ave Maria Meditations
How can human freedom be reconciled with our submission to God?
Docility to God does not make us into puppets. Being guided by God’s Commandments and by inspirations of the Holy Spirit leaves room for us to exercise our full freedom, responsibility, initiative, and so on. But instead of the use of our freedom being random, or governed by our whims, God guides it in the way that is best for us. It becomes cooperation with God’s grace… He is the source of our freedom; and the more dependent we are on God, the more freedom flows forth from its source.
What is freedom? It does not mean giving free reign to whim, but rather enabling what is best, most beautiful, and most profound in ourselves… If we submit to God, that submission will in fact strip off a sort of shell that imprisons us, to make room for all that is genuine in us… Submission to God prunes things in us but never gets rid of the best that is in us: our deep, positive aspirations. Just the opposite: it awakens and strengthens them, orients them, and frees them from obstacles to their fulfillment.
Fr. Jacques Phillippe
