Quotes of the Day for March 19, 2026 – Thoughts on real freedom and our misguided notions of freedom
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“Freedom is a paradox. It is an utterly inherent part of our existence – a critical part of our salvation – and yet threatening in its power. Freedom of the self can seem a threat to every kind of order (religious, political, social, etc.). Nevertheless, we are told in Scripture that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (freedom)” (2 Corinthians 3:17). St. Paul will also warn in his letter to the Galatians (5:13) that our liberty should not be used as an excuse to sin. And thus the paradox is set. Without freedom, we will not become the whole person we were created to be and which is the proper end of our salvation. But freedom can also be directed incorrectly, leading to yet another bondage (to sin). But substituting a religious bondage for a sinful bondage is not the answer.” (Father Stephen Freedom)
“Man, not knowing all things, may be tempted to confuse his capacity for freedom with freedom itself. He may start to imagine that freedom consists in the mere ability to make choices. If so, he will divorce freedom from intentional goodness. Our own freedom with respect to man, after all—of which man’s freedom will be an image—is not a choice simply for the sake of a choice. It is, rather, a freedom to love, and we freely make man in order to love him and to teach him to love.” (Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon)
“He who commits sin becomes a slave to sin. You can be truly free in God alone. Only humility and obedience make you truly free. All our life’s trials, illnesses, and sufferings are allowed by God so that we may acquire humility through them. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure (2 Cor. 12:7), writes the Apostle Paul. It is only through suffering endured with faith and hope that our old man, corrupted by passions and illusory desires, decays, and the new one rises from the dead as one created in the image and likeness of God. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal. 6:14), the apostle writes again. The Cross is a unique theologian!” (Metropolitan Serafim Joanta)
“It’s just that God’s freedom is not expressed like human freedom, or like political freedom; God’s decisions are not lawless arbitrary choices made in the void. God’s freedom is rather the total activation of his inner truth and goodness, of his divinity and his love for the world…To the extent that man does not use his freedom, he is not himself. In order to emerge from that indeterminate state, he must utilize his freedom in order to know and be known as himself.” (Timothy G. Patitsas, Fr. Dimitri Staniloae)
“Let us be aware that there is no repentance without love and freedom…Without freedom, love and true repentance are impossible. These two things are the same thing, of course, because true repentance involves opening ourselves in love of God—a willingness to throw ourselves into the open arms of Christ…Let us become like Christ, since Christ also became like us; let us become gods because of him, since he also because of us became human. He assumed what is worse that he might give what is better. He became poor that we through his poverty might become rich (2 Cor 8:9). He took the form of a slave (Phil 2:7), that we might regain freedom (Rom 8:21).” (Andrew Williams, St. Gregory Nazianzus)