The following came this morning from Richard Rohr’s daily mediation:
“Jesus has a different understanding of personal freedom. Freedom is not the capacity to be what you are not, but the capacity to be fully who you already are, to develop your inherent and true nature as much as possible. True freedom will feel more like a discovery than an achievement.
Freedom is not having to do what you want to do. Spiritual and true freedom is wanting to do what you have to do, which makes you dig deep into your own resources. Then you become who you most deeply and truly are.
All things desire to be fully themselves, and that is all that God wants them to be.”
How is Jesus’ understanding of personal freedom different from our own? Our culture’s?
How can we move towards being the full capacity of who we already are- God’s created children?
Becky Eldredge
Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.
Love this! It reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Gerald May who wrote “True freedom is not being able to do what we want, but being free to do what we most deeply want.”
Thanks for sharing your heart, wisdom and resources with us Becky! God bless!