Fr. Peter - The Golden Thread #4: Obligation, Freedom and Being a true Person

Ave Maria! Using the ever-present highway signs, Buckle-up, Its The Law, Fr. Peter Fehlner, F.I. springs into the subject of obligation and freedom according to the teaching of Bl. John Duns Scotus. These signs demonstrate the paradox that the more independent we get from God, the more arbitrary law becomes, the more buckling-up we must do and so the very freedom we seek is lost and along with it our very personhood. Freedom, in the sense of autonomy from God, is not what makes us true persons, but rather love, and love is never more pure than when loving God. And loving God involves being thankful to God for creating us and redeeming us on the Cross. Using the old version of thank you, which is, much obliged, he makes the connection between love and obligation and thus between obligation and being a true person. He covers law, obligation, freedom, secularity, communes, license, conscience, synderisis, pragmatism, the difference between contentment and happiness. Whew! all in less than ten minutes. So buckle-up! You'll need it with this one...Ave Maria!

Revver | June 29, 2008