Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8, 31-42

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son always remains.
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence;
then do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God;
Abraham did not do this.
You are doing the works of your father!”
So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication.
We have one Father, God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here;
I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

Freedom is a gift

1. Faithful.  Fidelity is what helps you to conquer, to overcome, your failings and not to sell yourself short. You must be faithful to your principles and to what Christ invites you to do.  It means being faithful to the commandment of love. “Love one another, as I have loved you”. It also means to be faithful to the cross and the resurrection. It is faithfulness to God that leads you to the cross where you are humiliated and misunderstood, but God reminds you this way that you will resuscitate and live. Being faithful to your principles is a hard task but being unfaithful creates a burden in your soul.

2. Freedom. It is a gift, but it can also be a weakness. Because if you do not know how to choose, you can fall into the prison of your own selfishness. True freedom implies fullness in oneself, well-being together with others, and above all, “inner peace”.   Freedom does not lead you to possess others nor to threaten the life of others.  It’s what leads you to life, even if you go through bitter trials. Today God invites you to seek freedom; that freedom that led Mary to say yes to bearing a child, that led Joseph to take the responsibility and led Peter to leave his fishing nets. Whoever is in the presence of God is free.

3. Being sons and daughters. People who are slaves, unlike those who are sons or daughters, lose their identity and are absorbed by one who becomes their master. They have no freedom or identity. You are a child of God, and as such your identity is never absorbed, you never cease being you. By fully living your faith your life is strengthened and fulfilled. Religion is not to make you a slave of a faith, rather it’s to help you be free and to become an heir of the truth. God reminds you that He loves you infinitely.  He is in your heart, in the depths of your soul and you must strive to keep Him there.

Always remember that something good is on the way!

God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.