Spiritual Freedom

After reading Fr. Dave Pivonka's Hiking the Camino, a friend put me on to his Spiritual Freedom: God's Life-Changing Gift. In the interests of full disclosure, I only read about 3/4 of it. This had nothing to do with the quality of the book. I left it in Nashville. My sincerest hope is that whomever found it is right now enjoying it as much as I did.

Pivonka's language is simple and to-the-point. God wants us to be perfectly free to live the abundant life. Simplicity does not mean, however, that Pivonka sacrifices a good lesson in distinctions. He uses the Catechism and Church documents to explain what God's freedom looks like, over and against our cultural understandings.

The popular understanding of freedom is maximized and unfettered choice. The more things I have to choose from, the more free I become. 3,000 songs for my iPod! 500 interfaces for my blog! 44 flavors of ice cream in the store! 65 menu choices at the local chain restaurant! Pregnant? No problem! Should you choose, no baby is necessary! Should you choose otherwise, 850 outfits for the Little Dear at Target!

You get the point.

Spiritual freedom does not look like this. It is not having 626 religious practices to dip into at your wimsey. True freedom--God's perfect freedom--is to be perfectly in union with Him. Freedom is rooted in the truth, and the truth is that we are infinitely loved by our Creator. All those choices we enjoy from day to day may be taken away (and will be taken away when we die). But nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ crucified. (The late Avery Cardinal Dulles had a beautiful explanation of this concept of freedom in the 1995 First Things.)

When we are free, nothing can compel us to deny God or to imagine he does not care. This means freedom from sin (which is, simply, to deny God) and even from feeling the need for all these little "choices." It is freedom from death--in the soul and also, ultimately, in the body.

All this can become a little heady. Fr. Pivonka does a wonderful job of bringing it down and--most importantly of all--giving flesh and blood to the idea of true freedom. Through stories gleaned from his extensive ministry, he invites the reader to encounter men and women who have chosen the truth. And the truth set them free.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Spiritual Freedom.

Oh, I could never...

Here are some beautiful thoughts on that common phrase. Read the whole thing, but here's the conclusion:

"So dear friends, today I exhort you to reexamine the story you tell yourself about your life. Where are you limiting yourself? What kinds of things do you routinely tell yourself you just can't do? Let's encourage each other to stretch a bit."

Thanks to Jen's favorite links!

Miriam's Credo.

With the general craziness surrounding a Big Trip for the Scientist Dad, getting ready for school to begin, and finding all Miriam's kindergarten (wow.) supplies, philosophy has been left in a dusty little corner in my brain.

Fortunately, Miriam has not allowed her little metaphysical inclination to rest. She has been busy concocting a brand new heresy, which she will combat when she becomes a Dominican (they've been bored ever since the Albigensians disappeared).

I took the time on our morning walk to listen carefully to her formulation of the new Creed.

"Believe!
in God the Father Almighty
the Baker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ,
his one, our Lord,
who was received by the Holy Spirit
bored of the Virgin Mary,
and died.
He ascended into hell. (I think we missed something important here.)
He will come again... (distracted by pink flower)
I believe in the Holy Spirit
the Holy Catholic Church
the communion of saints
the give-ness of sins (is that givenness?)
the resurrection of buddy

and life again, Amen."

I asked her to start the decade, and she complied:

"Our Father, who art in heaven, yellow be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven..."

Other than the obvious implication that God is material (yellow?), she got that one right. It's funny to me that she will probably have to re-learn many prayers as she gets older.

Because I didn't become Catholic until my teens, I never had the difficulty of learning my child's version of a prayer only to discover that's not what the prayer really says after all. Many cradle Catholics I know still sometimes exclaim, "I never knew the Church said that!" Really, though, I think they must have been told or at least heard it a million times.

We must have the humility to recognize that we may not have picked up everything there is to know along the way. Human learning is cyclical, as Laura Berquist says: We must constantly re-learn and re-examine the same thing. Or we will never know it. Like Miriam's Credo.

Where we've been...

Miriam gleans wisdom from Sr. Beatrice, OP. "Mommy! She is named for Saint Beatrix Potter!" Well... sure.



Two philosophy moms--one spiritual, the other biological. Sr. Alexandra and I take a turn.


...revelling in the spousal love of Christ. Sr. Anna, OP, took her final vows--for all her life--on July 24th.

(These are the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. I was in college with the three pictured here.)

He says it all.

I was thinking about a post on marriage. But then Aaron Martin just said what I wanted to say. By the way, the answer is, NO, the YouTube video is not worth 5 minutes of your time. But the rest of his post is.

Healthcare "reform" and abortion.

Amy Welborn has everything you need to know about the extensive allowances for federal funding of domestic abortions (remember, you already fund international abortions). The comments in her box are a sweet sampling of the emotional charges surrounding this bill!

There are a myriad of options for you to register your own complaints with your representatives. I like the Susan B. Anthony List. Whatever your politics, I think we can find "common ground": No one should be forced to fund abortion under the aegis of "healthcare."

And, not that we should be indulging in nightmares, a little moral imagination is always helpful to light fires under our seats. And Sometimes Tea imagines a scenario that is all too real for some of us. OB's already give women a hard time for these sorts of things, it's just that right now we have a choice whether to cave under pressure or not.

Hey, I know her!

A little boasting today: Check out the featured essay, Part 1 (of 3) of "On the Vocation of the Christian Artist," in the current issue of Dappled Things. That's my mom! If I do say so myself, it's a wonderful essay.