Horsing Around With Freedom

I was visiting a horse farm recently, where I am going to start volunteering.  They work with children and adults—including veterans—who have to deal with anxiety or a variety of other mental or physical challenges.  Essentially, it is a horse therapy farm. 

As the owner was showing me around, she introduced me to her mini-mule, explaining that he had a short lead rope on him because of her agreement with him.  He was not tied up because he likes his freedom, but if he abuses it by wandering off, then she has to limit his freedom.  The short lead rope is their compromise, so she can grab him if she needs to.

Well, it turns out that the day I visited he decided to test the limits of his freedom, which resulted in a rather dangerous encounter with two neighbors who were riding their horses down the road.  He really spooked the horses and the riders and caused them quite a scare.

The owner took him back to where he was supposed to be, apologized and comforted the riders. 

What her little mini-mule experienced that day is that the limits attached to his freedom were put into effect when he tested that freedom and went beyond his boundaries, the result being a restriction of his freedom.

As humans, our relationship with God works differently. We can use reason as a consideration before we do something.  The little mule did not have the capacity to use reason and think, “I am going to wander out in the road to see how far I can go.”  He just did what he does naturally.

But for us, we have the ability to consider the consequences and reason the best course of action (even though we may not follow the best course), and then suffer the consequences or enjoy the fruits of our decision.  Of course, our decisions should be grounded in God’s reasonable plan, which is for us to seek good and seek God!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator. . . ” (*CCC 1730)

This, of course, in no way implies that God has simply left us to our own devices in this world and does not care about us.  He is still with us, seeking us.  It just means that we have free will.  We are not God’s puppets.  We would not be able to freely love and choose him, if we were forced.

We know that “Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility.  By free will one shapes one’s own life.” (CCC 1731)

But here is the most interesting twist to all of this:

“The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes.  There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just.  The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to ‘the slavery of sin.’” (CCC 1733)

God conferred dignity on every person, giving us the ability to “initiate and control” our own actions. (CCC 1730) 

Our freedom “attains its perfection when directed toward God.” (CCC 1731)

God does not have to place a lead rope on us for, hopefully, we will want to stay with him and enjoy his loving gaze.

Janet Cassidy

janetcassidy.com

*CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church; Numbers = paragraphs)

Read about "Freedom and Responsibility" directly from the Catechism here.