As we get ready to celebrate Independence Day, we need to remember that God does not call us to failure, but rather to freedom. July 4^th is a day when we we should celebrate that freedom with fireworks and parties to be sure, but most importantly with love. On our country’s250^th birthday, we celebrate freedom! You see, we are presented in our lives with two alternatives: Freedom or slavery. You can’t be “kind of” free, and you can’t be “sort of” a slave. You’re either one or the other. Sacred Scripture tells us much about freedom and liberty, instructing us to to live in the Liberty of the Gospel; to live by the spirit. And the Liberty of the Gospel means living in love.

What IS love? In my humble opinion, Saint Paul gives us the best definition of all time in 1 Corinthians 13. That chapter tells us exactly what love is and what love is not. Philippians 4:8 also instructs us to meditate on whatever things are true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable of excellence, and worthy of praise.

Most people in the world do not enjoy the freedom we do; the freedom we all too often take for granted. Most people in the world can not do what we can do every week: worship freely and publicly without fear of reprisal. How many of us are fearful for our lives today, merely because we are in worship? There have been more Christians martyred in the last 100 years than in all the previous centuries of Christianity combined! And look at us. Secure. Comfortable. How many of us would be in worship on Sunday if we knew we were taking our lives in our hands? How many of us would be willing to undergo brutal torture for accepting Christ? How many would be willing to suffer beheading before renouncing Christ? That’s how too much of the world lives. Because of our freedom, we don’t.

It’s tremendous freedom, and it’s been purchased at tremendous cost; at places like Valley Forge, New Orleans, Gettysburg, the squalid trenches of WWI, Normandy, Vietnam, and the Middle East. We also enjoy a spiritual freedom that much of the rest of the world does not enjoy. Our souls have been purchased, ransomed, redeemed, at an incalculable cost: the passion of the Christ.

There are those in the world who would rob us of those civil and religious freedoms. We need to fight back. Not in the usual sense, but with love. That means doing God’s will. Love those who persecute you. Surrender your pride, walk in God’s ways, obey God’s laws, love the way you’re told to love, be known for Christian integrity; be holy. That involves a choice on your part: a commitment. You make a choice, you show integrity in keeping that choice, and you live with that choice. As Pope Saint John Paul II put it: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” And it seems to me that no matter where we are on the political spectrum, we should be able to set aside our unfortunate animosities and celebrate 250 years. Not with demonstrations filled with vitriol and bile, but with real celebrations.

Then maybe – – – just maybe – – – we can all beat our spears into plowshares. And in doing so, maybe – – – just maybe – – – the dry bones of our country’s hopes and dreams might take on flesh. Celebrate freedom with love!