"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.... [Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]
There are those who confuse freedom with choice. They do not realize
that freedom is the ability to choose the means to a determined end
perceived as good and in accordance with our nature. It is not the
choice itself. When a person makes a bad choice or chooses a bad end,
the result is not freedom but a type of slavery to the passions. Thus, a
person who overeats when satisfying natural hunger or another who
chooses an excellent wine with the intent of getting drunk, does not
exercise true freedom but rather its abuse. The more we master our
nature, the more freedom we have. Supernatural virtue gives us yet more
freedom since we not only master our nature but surpass it.
Saint Thomas teaches: “But man is by nature rational. When,
therefore, he acts according to reason, he acts of himself and according
to his free will; and this is liberty. Whereas, when he sins, he acts
in opposition to reason, is moved by another, and is the victim of
foreign misapprehensions. Therefore, ‘Whosoever committeth sin is the
slave of sin’” (quoted in Leo XIII, Encyclical Libertas [1888] in The Papal Encyclicals, vol. 2, p. 171, no. 6). The above excerpt was taken from the book,Return to Order.
