Dear Friends,

This past Thursday, July 4th, our country celebrated Independence Day. One can celebrate the birth of our nation and the freedom we have been given as a people of this country.  

I reflect on my own life and I can count all the times I made decisions based on my freedom to do the things I want to do. Go to a school of my choosing, to decide how involved I want to be or not be involved—the freedom to vote and choose where to live. Not everyone in the world has, or is given, this freedom of choosing and deciding. 

Most of us who have lived long enough know that freedom is not without a cost and responsibility. To have an understanding of freedom based on the belief that no one can tell us what to do can lead us to be blind to the consequences of decisions and is a misunderstanding of what true freedom is. Even scriptures through St. Paul’s letters remind us that freedom means to be set free from those things that do not allow us to love, serve, and care for others and to serve God. The election cycle has been with us and will be here until November and will be here even beyond election day. Freedom, the gift that has been offered to us, has been purchased by the blood of Christ and the blood of those who have served the real ideals of our country. We work and commit to freedom not just once every two or four years, rather we are to live it and work for it every day.  

I am grateful for the freedoms I have experienced throughout my life, and I am also grateful for those events that called me to sacrifice for others and for a greater cause. The freedom to sacrifice and serve others is the freedom that God wants us to understand and live.  

Blessings to all who work for freedom for all people.  

Peace in Christ,

Fr. Eric