Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent:

Reading I: Daniel 3:14–20, 91–92, 95
Psalm: Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56
Gospel: John 8:31–42

The English word “redemption” comes from the Latin verb redimēre, which literally means “to buy back.” The saving work of Christ is one which buys us back from the bondage of the devil, liberating us from the slavery of sin and restoring us to divine sonship.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus drives this point home when He professes “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). When we sin, we not only offend God, but we actually become less of ourselves, and we experience the gradual erosion of our freedom. Hence the Christian vision of freedom is at once radical but also deeply relatable. Deep down we sense that freedom is much more than being able to do whatever we like; rather, authentic freedom is the condition of being the master of our own concupiscent wants and desires, and having the ability to direct these toward other persons in self-gift.

In his classic work Love and Responsibility, St. John Paul II underscored this point by noting how freedom is first and foremost for love. When freedom lacks love, he said, it becomes something empty and meaningless which ultimately leaves us unfulfilled. For the Christian, then, we could assert that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the first reading are actually far more radically free than the idolatrous King Nebuchadnezzar who imprisons them. This is because they possess truth, they see reality clearly, and they are able to act rightly in accordance with that knowledge. So powerful is their witness that Nebuchadnezzar eventually comes to acknowledge the God whom they worship.As we continue to journey through this season of Lent, let us pray for the grace to live lives that are rooted in a radical and courageous experience of Christian freedom.

What are the areas of my life where I remain enslaved by sin?

How can I offer these over to Christ’s redemptive power this day?

Reference:

Journey Through Lent: Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings by Clement Harrold