286 THE MORE WE DO WHAT IS GOOD, THE FREER WE BECOME

YOUCAT Lesson 286

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

286  What is freedom and what is it for?

Freedom is the God-given power to be able to act of one’s own accord; a person who is free no longer acts under the influence of someone else.  [1730-1733, 1743-1744]

Photo: …..Statue of Liberty, NY. .....286  “God created us as free men and wills our freedom so that we might decide wholeheartedly in favor of the good, indeed for the greatest “good”—in other words, for God.  The more we do what is good, the freer we become.”—(see CCC #1733)    51

“Being free means self-possession.”  Dominique Lacordaire (1802-1861, famous Dominican preacher)

 “The person who abandons himself totally in God’s hands does not become God’s puppet, a boring  “yes man”; he does not lose his freedom.  Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great creative immensity of the freedom of good.  The person who turns to God does not become smaller but greater, for through God and with God he becomes great, he becomes divine, he becomes truly himself.”  Pope Benedict XVI, December 8, 2005

1730-1733, 1743-1744

ARTICLE 3
MAN'S FREEDOM

........1730    God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection[Office1]  by cleaving to him."( Gaudium et Spes 17; Sirach 15:14.)²⁶

Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.( St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,4,3:Patrologia Graeca 7/1,983.)²⁷ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

I. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

…….1731    Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude. –CCC

…….1732    As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach. –CCC

…….1733    The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin."( Compare Romans 6:17.)²⁸ –CCC

IN BRIEF

…….1743   "God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel (Compare Sirach 15:14), so that he might of his own accord seek his creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him" (Gaudium et Spes 17 § 1). –CCC

…….1744    Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of one's own. Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the sovereign Good. --CCC

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 [Office1]Of the Catholic