Yesterday, we in the United States remembered that two hundred and fifty years ago, a dramatic document was proclaimed, that thirteen colonies were then to be freed from; the burden of the many laws of oppressive England. Whether it was a pure political or economic revolution remains a historical topic for investigation. The various acts and tariffs and military presences, were confining personal and social restrictions. Declaring independence was only a verbal beginning. Freedom from and freedom for do take time and determination. One can get accustomed to unfreedoms.
I imagine that in today’s Gospel, the disciples would have experienced a great consolation. They all have lived and suffered under both the Roman and religious confinements. Jesus is pictured as thanking His Father for revealing a new way of living, a Kingdomy kind of spiritual maturity. The “little ones” have been and are being revealed to about Who God is and how God is toward them.
Their scriptures have pictured the Law as a burden, a heavy structure of just how God wanted the Jewish people to react, submit, and labor. There is a new Sherriff in town and the jails are being freed. Responding instead of reacting will now be the mode of divine conversations. Learning is the freedom and Gentleness is the patient and compassionate Professor. He has been conducting classes as He healed, fed, and accompanied the burdened. The Disciples followed taking notes. He encouraged them to keep facing Him, the people He encountered and especially themselves. The Pharisees were the self-centered, self-righteous lawyers and were growing both anxious and angry at this New Newsmaker.
Religion is a burden of “have-tos” and “ought-tos” if spirituality does not free us. Legal conformity without a sense of the common good, tends toward resistance and resentment. The ways and teachings of Jesus are invitations to freedom. Yes, invitations are central is the personality of Jesus and how we allow Him to personally relate to and within us. Who He is to and for us is central to our responding to His urgings and invitations. He desires to take off His badge of authority and replace it with His gentle countenance and life-affirming winks. This is the tension, do we want a pharisee-sheriff or a Gentle Presence abiding. He does see all that the Pharisees saw, but with gentle professorial glasses.
Historically, remember, there were many Loyalists in those times of early dependence that fought against separation from England. They wanted the older and more conventional ways. So there were many followers of Jesus who grew frightened of trusting Jesus and His new ways. This year, the Fifth of July can be a new freedom Day as we receive the Word and the Eucharist as His way of loving and living more His Gentleness of Heart within us.
Rev. Larry Gillick, SJ
I entered the Society of Jesus in 1960, after graduating from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attending St. Norbert College for two years. I was ordained in 1972 after completing theological studies at the Toronto School of Theology, Regis College. I presently minister in the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton and give retreats.
I enjoy sharing thoughts on the Daily Reflections. It is a chance to share with a wide variety of people in the Christian community experiences of prayer and life which have been given to me. It is a bit like being in more places than just here. We actually get out there without having to pay airlines to do it. The word of God is alive and well.
