The month of August comes with the message of liberation. First and foremost it reminds us that when our plans and hopes are broken, there are always the hands of God which is always there to protect us. It also comforts our hearts with the confidence that after this short span of time of oppression and pain the days of eternal liberation and happiness are awaiting us. In short, as an Indian and as a Christian, the month of August ultimately gives us the message of liberation and freedom.
Today we live in the midst of a lot of possibilities and chances. In any fields of life we are free to choose whatever is most fitting for our taste and aptitudes. Mass Media open a new and wide world for us. Among these possibilities and chances, our option for whatever is divine and holy, provides us with the real freedom. “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). “For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good, and roving desire perverts the innocent mind” (Wisdom 4: 12).
Mental and spiritual happiness is a priceless wealth. Even though we have anything and everything we want, if we don’t have the peace of mind, if we are unable to sleep peacefully, what does it matter with whatever we possess? The one who is really free is the one who is able to find perfect happiness and the peace of mind in what one really is.
Mother Mary is the one who lived freedom in its complete sense. Her life reminds us that the total surrender to the will of God is the real freedom. Mary through her life teaches us that the confidence that I am a child of God and our complete trust in the providence of God which arises from this confidence, is the pathway to the divine realm of freedom.
By submitting ourselves fully to the will of God, by wilfully accepting the plan of God for us and doing good to our brethren, let us experience freedom in its fullest sense. May the life and example of Mother Mary, who through her life proved that total surrender to the will of God is the key to freedom, be our role model.
Fr Prince Thomas Chakkalayil CST