True Freedom

 Happy 4th of July! Today is one of my favorite holidays mostly because it falls in the middle of summer and has great colors, great food, parades and everyone seems to be in a good mood.

 You don't have to buy gifts for anyone and the holiday isn't threatened by blizzards which sends everyone into a panic to stock up on toilet paper and milk. If cavemen could live without toilet paper and milk, I am sure we could somehow manage to squeak by...Aztecs used dry corn husks for toilet paper, Romans a sponge soaked in vinegar. Just saying...there are other ways humanity continued. It would be interesting to know how people faired with blizzards in the olden days. 

That aside, and back to the 4th of July, I have to say I was a bit cautious to venture out in my very loud star spangled stars and stripes shirt this week. I work in DC where everything seems to be a political statement and it could be totally taken the wrong way. I started to think about freedom, and war and what it means to be free. Sure, we are free in the USA, but free from what exactly? The Queen of England? I personally wouldn't mind tea time and a British accent. Free from paying taxes to England? Sure, I get it. But what the settlers of the USA proposed as freedom certainly came at a cost to lives: Indigenous lives and American lives. Hundreds of thousands of native American's were already here and lost their land, hunting grounds and cultures for our current freedom. American born lives were lost in battle after battle to secure independence from England. But all for what and with what intention?

 In the last year, we have all had our freedoms shaken but COVID, we've all seen or at least heard of the awful death of George Floyd and the violent attacks against cities with cries for justice, we've seen or heard of people loosing their work because of COVID and our lives have altered in some way to stay healthy. Now, the 4th of July 2021, are we "back to normal"? Is that the point to be back to normal in celebrating a beautiful holiday that also has it's origins seeped in racism and bloodshed? While I love my country, I also believe that God cannot bless sin. The same Declaration of Independence that states "All men are created equal" and we each have the right to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" further goes on to say that the King of England "mercilessly excited Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an indistinguised destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." 41 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were slave owners. What is a man that is equal if Native Americans are reduced to savages and there is an enslaved person in at home ironing your bedsheets? Sure, in 1776 history was in a strange dark place. Women for sure where not counted as "men being created equal". But what about now? Who is equal? Were the pilgrim men who originally came as the first illegal immigrants the only ones worthy to be called equal? Just saying, it is a twisted definition of equality.

"In 300 years we will call you Illegal Immigrants when you come back to the land that was originally your home. I know we don't have immigration papers now, but our guns are bigger than your arrows." Basically how it went down.

I firmly believe that freedom doesn't come from a nationality or country but from a life free from sin. This beautiful country I certainly love came for me at a high price. My brother and I paid a price having our dad in the Army and go to war. We thought he wouldn't come back. He went to war for our freedom. But is it a freedom now or was it ever a freedom worth paying for with your life? Freedom of religion was one of the basic ones for the USA and that too was violated with COVID where priests and bishops coolly locked churches for our good...They stripped our freedom and a basic right my dad went to fight for and protect. The only true freedom isn't one to pick up a gun and fight for, it is a freedom won inside of yourself in Jesus Christ. Only He gives true freedom be it in Mongolia or Maryland. 

The USA has been seeped in sin and that is truly something that will not pour goodness on this country or it's people. God doesn't reward sin because He is sinless and already paid the price to free us from sin. How is the USA seeping in sin? Quick drill through he 10 Commandments which if followed do bring goodness and inner freedom

1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no other Gods before me: Well, that means idolatry. Idolatry isn't a golden statue. Idolatry of food. Idolatry of self, how many people are self obsessed on Facebook and Instagram? Idolatry of work. Idolatry of pets. The list goes on and on. Who do we idolize over God? Our family? A relationship? The color of our hair? Idolatry of the wealthy of our nation at the cost of others lives?

Idolatry of a puppy? Totally happening. How many people prefer dogs to having their own child?

2. Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain: all the types of ways we have lost reverence if we ever had it. Using God's name lightly to make exclamations, damnations, show how impressed we are and in a way we as a country and nation have gotten to just shove the idea of God to the side. "Who does He think He is?" is the attitude almost as if Almighty God were a political leader or just something a bunch of religious fanatics observe because their lives are so sad being "religious" is all they can do to feel good. Well, news for us all: God would love to have His name said with love. And He's not political because He's God...the maker of the Universe, of your lungs, of my veins and toenails, of the neurons in my brain. Reverence, let's aim for it. 

3. Remember to keep the Sabbath day Holy: Well, Sunday in my neck of the woods does anything than keep it Holy. No one goes to church except for a handful up the street, parents prioritize soccer games, running around and all stores are open. You know what it is supposed to look like? Spending quiet time worshiping God, eating nutritious food, unplugging with TV and your phone and plugging into your family and relationships. Reading something spiritually nourishing: a day of rest, reflection and recharging.

On Sunday, be with God where He fills your tank for the week. Rest, reflect and recharge. JP2, pray for us!

4. Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother: As a culture we have cut the older generation mostly to the side. It is so sad to see hallways filled with abandoned moms and dads in the nursing homes with no one to visit them. We've also become a fatherless culture. Men have been reduced to a laughingstock, childish baboons who are good for nothing and don't know what's good for any of us. The goodness God created in masculinity has been crushed. Children who grow up without a father are so sore for that love. Fathers need to be good fathers and encouraged and praised. Mothers too. The family unit no doubt has come under serious attack in this country where everything is better or encouraged than being married. People are so lost in the search for a false identity that wounds them in that lie.

5. Thou Shalt Not Kill: Let's see...abortion at all stages of life is accepted right now up to birth. Clean, sanitized murder if you will because it is a choice. Guttamacher Institute reports 862,000 defenseless, vulnerable children were killed in 2017. Why? Who got to choose? At what point to tell a mom "congratulations" on her pregnancy is something we shouldn't even contemplate.

A killing clinic deceptively called CARE for all three trimesters of an unborn baby's life. Up to birth? Prepare to stay for 3 days because it is a "process" to kill, cut, vacuum out limbs and get rid of a human baby body. Get a puppy because it's cuter on instagram than being a struggling single mom. Guess what? Mary struggled on the back of a donkey for 500 miles to save her baby son.

 As of 07/04/2021 there are 5 states that will help in suicide. Suicide, what an awful thing to help someone that needs love, a hand to hold, a priest to walk with them. And the good old 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. I'm sorry but God said not to kill and that's His law take it or leave it. We can't say believe killing a little defenseless baby is wrong while waving a gun at someone who doesn't agree with us.

Thou Shalt not kill, doesn't come with a 2nd Amendment. Sorry!

 And lastly, the death penalty. 22 inmates were killed via execution in 2020.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery: Well, hm...Purity. God made us in His likeness and image and He is pure. Christ is pure, Mother Mary is pure. We live in a society now that perverts humanity and reduces humans to identifying by a sexual preference or variation, and thousands of young people enslaved to ideals of pornography that hurts them so much. This in turn distorts the humanity in society. I love that God is the one who created science because in His infinite wisdom He created Male and Female to compliment and balance each other. That too boils down to fornication, adultery, prostitution, and a list of self-seeking selfish acts that hurt the soul of the person. It shows so little of the truth of the person and the true dignity of the individual. 

7.Thou Shalt not steal: Oh boy well the USA has been quite the thief! Oil mines, diamond mines, slave labor for our clothes to be made in sweatshops by children in Cambodia, mica mines for our make up at the cost of children's lives, and always expecting top notch quality at the expense of what? Someone has to pay a price for anything. People have been exploited just as much as the land has been abused. How much land was "stolen" from the native Americans? Was it ever their land if it is God's land and His earth? Perhaps it wasn't their land either but they had homes that were stolen. What about resources from other humans? Are we helping or hurting undocumented migrants when we pay them cash, when they are further exploited by coyotes who smuggled them here? So many women especially are exploited in horrific ways. How do I know? I hold their hands in the hospital when they give birth... I hear and have seen scars of the price they pay with their skin. We steal when we are instruments to continue abuse. The level of human trafficking among undocumented citizens is startling. How much do we steal when we pay them and don't truly help them with what they really need: documents? Well, I don't feel comfortable dealing with others business...one might say. Well, that comfort level certainly doesn't stop people in Bethesda and Chevy Chase from getting their bathrooms scrubbed and polished. There are ways to get undocumented cleaning ladies papers to live here legally, and that helps them and doesn't steal from their lives. 

Mica mines in India to make our pretty make up that makes us look younger. Children mine because their little fingers are better at it...

Undocumented immigrants, ironically in the original land of their ancestors, are frequently victimized for human trafficking and not paid a just wage. Help it end. You can and should help. Your cleaning lady and her kids deserve to have instructions printed on how to get legal documents and rights that will protect them.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor: I don't know about you but I have a hard time watching the news. You don't know what is what and it is all negative and with very little interesting actual journalism and owned and managed by people who are not journalists. Bearing false witness: of course, gossiping and lying about others but what about misinformation and persuasion to dislike others who think differently than we do? What is diversity if we are not free to think differently than others and still respect and enjoy their company?

Enjoy with a doughnut and cup of coffee.

9. Thou shalt not covet they neighbors wife: well, with most of America divorced, remarried, single or in some limbo status this might actually not be the most frequented sin. In anycase, looking at someone's wife with impure thoughts is the same as chasing after her. Custody of the eyes is so important as is custody of the mind. Keep a discipline of knowing what your weakness is through your eyes so that your soul won't be tempted.  

Be careful what and who you look at. It affects your mind and soul. Men, custody of the eyes. Ladies, you too!

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods: perfect lawn, perfect mom...right? Not quite. About three miles down the road no doubt today are children and families who are hungry and happy to have beans for their meal. Coveting and envy and comparison strips us of the ability to see the goodness of God in others and their lives. Someone had a blessing that you didn't have? Praise God. Someone had a child that you have not had? Praise God. Remember "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God." But back to the USA, how do we covet our neighbors goods? All the imports is one way, disregard for unborn babies so that we can continue to market to young women what their lives "should" be like when they were created to thrive in maternity during their fertile years, coveting to always have more and to "progress" into darkness but for what? For what?

The image of what women are taught they should be, should experience and should achieve is often to kill what they already are that is precious, powerful and sacred: maternity. It us not a burden and anyone who thinks it is has it wrong.

High school graduation picture. Ten fingers worth more than a trip to Italy. Ten toes worth more than a perfect waistline. Chubby legs and a drooling happy face worth more than any definition of success.

In conclusion, the USA is a beautiful country, land that I love, and place I would always love to see as home. Yet it's laws have gone against God time and time again. If the USA as a country doesn't repent and turn to a merciful Father, there really won't be much of a land to be free in for much longer. We will soon have freedom from laws, increased bondage with the sanitization of murder of the "useless" of society just as the founders had a narrow classification for "men" the USA too will continue to narrow the classification for "human worthy of living"...

They were not worthy in 1776

These are on the list of not worthy in 2021

Isn't he precious? Mom made 3 abortion appointments and skipped each one saying "next time I'll go through with it". Thank God! He is precious. Some would say he's better off dead. Is he? Absolutely not.

The lie. Suffering is not endless and you don't have to go through it alone. 

On that joyful note, have hope! Because no matter how the USA ends up with its definition of freedom or human, you can always count on the definition of freedom by Jesus Christ, ruler and King. In John 8:36 He says "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Freedom through Christ is:

Surrounded by darkness it is easier to see the light.

• Freedom from bondage to sin.
• Freedom from the penalty of sin. Sin has a price to be paid. Jesus paid it on the Cross, we just have to accept Him in our heart and strive to be who God created us to be. 

• Freedom from the guilt and shame of sin. Forgiveness in the sacrament of confession is total. Walk away free.
• Freedom to serve others. God saved us with grace. We are all given grace not to keep to ourselves but to keep giving to others as the love of God. Its like a bushel of apples that will keep getting refilled as you pass the apples God gave you out to everyone. 

Happy 4th of July! I hope you choose freedom each day because it is yours to have and hold. Your soul has been given the greatest gift of true freedom in living who you were created to be in Jesus.