Today we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit, the 2nd person of God, upon the Apostles and Church. However, in today’s Church, few people really have a relationship with or live in the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

So what, or better said, who is the Holy Spirit?

The Father through Jesus will send the other person of Trinity. LOVE between Fr and Son. We have received the love of God.

Pope Francis quote: “We shouldn’t try to tame the Holy Spirit. Yet, that is what we do. We want the Holy Spirit to do what we want. It should be the other way around. We should do what the Holy Spirit wants of us”.

We tend to put God in a box… and when God is in a box, then we put parameters around and limit what we allow God to do in us, instead of let God have free reign in us.

I want to talk to you today about the Freedom which the Holy Spirit offers us.

In the U.S., in St Louis, St John Paul II- “True Freedom is a wonderful gift from God, and it has been a cherished part of your country’s history. But when Freedom is separated from truth, individuals lose your moral direction and the very fabric of society begins to unravel”. (Society defines truth is whatever one wants to believe, and freedom is doing whatever one wants to do. But problems arise when truth and freedom are separated, haven’t we seen that? JPII goes on “Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want. Rather, Freedom is the ability to live responsibly the truth of our relationship with God and with one another. Remember what Jesus said: ‘You will know the truth and the truth will set you free’”.

God made humanity in love, with the ability and freedom to love. Gen 2 - God hand in hand with Adan and Eve. The first words out of the mouth of God to humanity, are those very words- ‘you are free’- You are free to eat of the fruit of any tree, except that of 1 tree. God made humanity to be free. Imago Dei- made to be free. So that we can freely choose to love, freely choose to be in relationship with Him.

After humanity chose wrongly and sinned. They hid themselves, but the 2nd words out of the mouth of God to humanity is ‘Where are you’. Amazingly, God goes looking for fallen humanity, called them back into relationship, back into the freedom. All the rest of Scriptures is humanity wandering away, and God telling us we don’t have to live in bondage, we are meant to be free, we can still be in relationship.

Exodus- God heard people’s plea. God tells Moses tell the people they are free, that they don’t have to be in bondage. People say, we are not free- see we are in shackles we are slaves. They didn’t see themselves as children of God, they identified themselves as slaves to Pharaoh, and so they chose to remain in their shackles and bondage, they remained in their sin. So God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh, go to the source of their bondage.

We need to be able to face the source of our bondage, to confront it head on, and accept the freedom God offers us. But Exodus goes on- the people were free, they were on the journey to the Promised Land, but when things got difficult, they said “we wish we were slaves again”. Imagine saying to God the one who freed them, we know you set us free but we wish to be slaves again. But that is what we do so often isn’t it?

In Luke 2- Before Jesus enters the scene, Zechariah tells the people- ‘the Lord has come to set his people free’. Then just 2 chapters later, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry Jesus reads from the Prophet Isaiah- “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”- the same Spirit that anointed Jesus, anointed you and I. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and He has called me to give sight to the blind, to heal the cripple, and free the captive. The first thing that Jesus bring us is the Good News that He has come to heal us, he has come to free us. There is so many things that hold us captive- fear, frustration, anger, unforgiveness, the desire to control, or whatever it might be. God wants to bring freedom.

We make up our mind- I’m going to be more loving, or I’m going to be more patient. And maybe we are for a day or 2, but then we go back- we go back because we aren’t free, often times there is a slavery or bondage we aren’t aware of.

We think that we can make ourselves free, if I just try harder, if I did better, then I could be free. 2Cor- Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom”.

We have to know what binds us, ask the Holy Spirit show to you what areas He wants to set you free. Let the Holy Spirit into that weakness, into the inability to be or do what you want.

Gospel- Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And Father will send another Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with you always. He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you”.

What does it really mean to love God? Keep commandments…taught by God. Conscience, our moral compass, through which we know right from wrong, is taught by Holy Spirit.

Live in the Freedom of children of God.