Wednesday of the 5th Week of Lent

Are you a slave? Or are you free? You may be wondering: "What a silly question! Of course I am free! After all, I can move around, gather with friends, do many things without let or hindrance." But even though we may appear to be free, we could also be enslaved. How so? Some of us could be enslaved by a certain passion. For example, we may be enslaved by a passion to have the latest gadget or gizmo, and we could end up spending so much money trying to keep up, and even end up in debt. We could be enslaved by an addiction. For example, some of us could be addicted to smoking or drinking alcohol. Without a cigarette or two, or without a glass of whiskey or brandy, some of us may begin to feel jittery, restless and uncomfortable, since something seems lacking in us (that is, the nicotine or alcohol which we have become so dependent on). So are we really free?

Another form of slavery is when we sin. When we sin, we become slaves to evil. In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us: "I tell you most solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured, but the son’s place is assured. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Jesus is inviting us to be freed from our sin instead of being enslaved by it. But the problem is: how many of us are willing and humble enough to heed Jesus' words and be freed by Him from the slavery of sin, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Some of us seem to be procrastinating, thinking that we have plenty of time and make amends. Some of us just do not seem to bother or care about the consequences of allowing sin to remain in us. Are we going to allow the slavery of sin to continuously ensnare and poison us, until it is too late? Do we really want to be free in the first place?