When Pope John Paul II visited Maryland in 1995, he spoke about America’s founding documents and President Abraham Lincoln’s question on whether a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could “long endure.” 

The Holy Father went on to say that “democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community.” (Homily at Camden Yards, Oct. 8, 1995)

He then stated, “The basic question before a democratic society is: ‘how ought we to live together?’”

It’s a question posed to each of us. How are we answering this question by our actions and in the way we educate our young people?

The question about “how ought we to live” is also a question about the meaning of freedom. For our understanding of freedom reflects our understanding of the human person, their dignity and their end goal. 

If we understand freedom to be the ability to choose what I want to do, when I want to do it, however I want to do it, we have a narrow understanding of the human person, which is summarized in a will to power, regardless of the needs or good of others. 

This breeds selfishness, sorrow and a “me” generation. In this case, the human person is not much more than their wants and the desire of the moment, devoid of an enduring joy or good that is outside of themselves.

This is a kind of all-or-nothing freedom, without limits, which degrades the person and their unity as an embodied soul, often separating the body from the heart. As John Paul II put it, “A freedom which claims to be absolute ends up treating the human body as a raw datum, devoid of any meaning and moral values until freedom has shaped it in accordance with its design.” (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, 38)

Rather, as the Second Vatican Council explained, “Genuine freedom” is “an outstanding manifestation of the divine image” in man: “God willed to leave man in the power of his own counsel, so that he would seek his Creator of his own accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God.” (Gaudium et Spes, 17, cited in VS, 38)  

The more the divine image is manifested in the human person, the greater their freedom.  

Yet, John Paul acknowledges there is a real “question troubling so many people today: how can obedience to universal and unchanging moral norms respect the uniqueness and individuality of the person, and not represent a threat to his freedom and dignity?” (VS, 85)

This is because, ultimately, “the Crucified Christ reveals the authentic meaning of freedom” as “he lives it fully in the total gift of himself and calls his disciples to share in his freedom.” (VS, 85)

What is true, universal and unchanging is also what makes us free. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) The human person’s truth is their calling to live as a self-gift.

It is in surrendering ourselves to love, in a gift of self, that we find our freedom. As John Paul puts it, “Jesus reveals by his whole life, and not only by his words, that freedom is acquired in love, that is, in the gift of self.” (VS, 87)

Ultimately, as disciples of Christ, we must contemplate Jesus crucified if we wish “to understand the full meaning of freedom: the gift of self in service to God and one’s brethren.” (VS, 87)

John Paul II said, “Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” (Homily, Oct. 8, 1995)

Let us give thanks for the gift of freedom and live it as we ought, bearing witness to Christ.

Sister John Paul Maher, OP, is principal of Worthington St. Michael School and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.