Father Dom's Homs: Christ’s Yoke: What Modern Culture Gets Wrong About True Freedom

James Caldwell: This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers, and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle cry, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. Name the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Well, our readings today are filled with great joy, and word that comes to my mind I'd like to focus on is the word freedom. The first reading of the Old Testament, we hear the great writer writing in a rejoicing way, knowing that God is our Savior. And so he says to Zion, he says to Jerusalem, Rejoice heartily, rejoice and shout for joy. For God truly is our Saviour, the one who gives us freedom. Our second reading, Saint Paul puts before us something very powerful, something very important. He's talking about the flesh and the spirit, the flesh and the spirit, the flesh being that of the world, the flesh being that of Saint. And not saying our bodies are bad, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We know that. Then he contrasts that with the Spirit, which is Jesus Christ. And so he's saying, He's saying, attach yourself to the Spirit. Attach yourself to the Spirit. Let the freedom of Christ. Cleanse you, purify you, to give you joy. And we all know that as Christians. We all know we have Jesus Christ, and that gives us great freedom and peace and joy. And our gospel, we've heard this before, where Jesus says to his apostles and his disciples, and anyone who's listening, and even us today, 2,000 years later, he says, Take upon you my yoke, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Learn from me. Learn from me. Sometimes it's counterintuitive for us human beings to put on a yoke. We might have a negative connotation with the word yoke, but Jesus is saying, When you put on my yoke, you will be free. You will be free, and then you can graft yourself to me, you can be part of the spirit, you will have peace, joy, freedom, and unity with me and the rest of the world. As I focus on the word freedom, and especially as we're celebrating Great Declaration of Independence and the Fourth of July, I'm always reminded of of many things to be sure, maybe like you as well, too, as we celebrate this great day of our of our country, and reminded of my brother, and I've spoken of him before. And as I said, he was in the Marines for twenty-one years, retired as a master gunnery sergeant, and did multiple tours. In I in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I remember one day I was at his house and we were on the couch and we were just having a conversation as brothers do, and you know, the big screen TV in front of us was was the news was on, and you know, as we're talking, paying no attention to it, all of a sudden they they they started talking about these college campuses and some of these kids, it was around 2016, and they were burning an American flag. And I I my brother saw that. And I was watching my brother to see what he would do. And I I honestly thought he would like go right into Hulk mode. But he didn't. And I was angry. And he didn't. But what happened was a a tear came down the side of his face. I was like, I will never forget that. And I know he he loves his country, and I know he had he has massive respect for the American flag, and I had no idea what he was feeling. probably a great disrespect and deep hurt and and a deep sorrow and and whatever else and I've never been in war and you know there is his friends will never come back from Afghanistan and Iraq and it just hit me in that moment is just like what a gift that we have in this country that is built and constructed in such a way there should be that it is under God. That it is under God. A place where there's unity and peace so there should be a place for for all people to enjoy. What this great country has to offer. And so freedom comes to my mind. Freedom. What is freedom? What is freedom? What is Christ's yoke? What does it mean to put on his yoke to be free? Well, if we were with Jesus 2,000 years ago in the context in which he's speaking, sitting there, when he said the word yoke, we would all know what that meant. An instrument. That's put over the shoulders of an ox or or an animal of some sort to pull something. More than likely, he's speaking of an ox that has a yoke on its shoulders to pull a plow, to do work, to cut the earth, to provide food and fruit for the people. A good thing, a necessary thing. A yoke was something that was perfectly crafted, piece of wood to fit the animal shoulders. It wasn't something of torture, it wasn't something of pain for the animal. It was it was something that was good. It released the full potential of the animal to do something good. It released the potential of the animal to do something good. And so Christ is Christ is telling us that there's something here. He's saying, take off your yoke. Take off the yoke of the flesh, take off the yoke of the world, take off the yoke of sin that we put on ourselves. Brothers and sisters, we all know this very well. I do too. Some days I'm feeling so heavy and so down and so depressed and so dark and not happy. I do examination of conscience, and I'm like, yeah, there's a sin, there's a sin, there's a sin. And then I go to confession, which is where Jesus takes the yoke off of our shoulders that we put on, the yoke of sin. The yoke that causes chaos and confusion, disharmony, hopelessness. And then we put on his yoke, who gives us strength and courage, releases our potential to do do work out in the world to bring the gospel, the gospel of peace and love to those closest to us, your spouse, your kids, people at work, people at school, everywhere you go, carrying the yoke of Christ. You have strength, you have courage. Every time I think of the word yoke, I'm reminded of in high school, like put on my shoulder pads. They fit perfectly. It's like, okay, now we're ready for football. Maybe a weird analogy, but the first thing that came to my mind. It's more than likely that Joseph and Jesus, who were construction workers, built and crafted yokes for people, for their animals. So Jesus knew exactly what he was talking about. He probably made built many yokes for oxen. So, what is what is freedom? Putting on the yoke of Christ. What is freedom? Giving thanks to God for this great country, praying and fasting for this country as well, that in the areas that have fallen short of the glory of God, that those who have power can bring God back into the systems, back into the institutions and universities, back into the family and culture and society. For that is exactly what this country was founded on by our forefathers, wasn't it? Look at the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, they write that it is the duty And the right and responsibility for people to cast off a government that is of tyranny. That is of tyranny. Well, what other great constitutional literature can we find God prominently set? Look at our great Pledge of Allegiance. At the end of the Pledge of Allegiance, as we all know, we say it all the time, or at least we should. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. For all. Just not all in this country, but all for the whole world. All for the whole world. It's interesting that they write that it's one nation under God, not separate from God. Or one nation above God. For if God's not at the center, if God isn't the undergirding foundation for everything we do and the way we act and think and our governing bodies, for everything, then chaos ensues because God is freedom. He doesn't choose freedom. He is freedom, just like God is love. He doesn't choose love. He is love. So we're under God's freedom that orders, that gives order to chaos. Well, our secular culture has been telling us for for a long time that you can be God. You don't need God. Religious freedom is actually rejecting God, which is contrary to that statement. For religious freedom means a relationship with Christ, a relationship with freedom. Jesus is freedom because he did that. And freed us from sin and that. Talk about real freedom. So as we focus on freedom, we focus on Jesus Christ, the true yoke. We focus on the sacraments that give us freedom because the sacraments bind us to Jesus Christ. Even in Scripture, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Except through me. What else does he say? In the Gospel of John, he says, Those that know the truth will find the truth, and the truth will set you free. Well, even to his apostles, he says, Go and proclaim freedom to the captives. Go and set those that are oppressed free. Jesus is freedom. Think about that. He is freedom itself because he is love. He is the truth, and the truth sets you free. What else does our great church in all its richness and depth say about freedom? Catechism says, True freedom is found in the service of what is good and just. The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. Course the opposite has the opposite effect as well, too. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom, which leads to the slavery of sin. But again, we focus on Christ because we have nothing to fear. When we know Christ, we are truly set free and we fear nothing. Because we know that, as the church goes on to explain, through his death and resurrection, Christ set humanity free. All of us, all human beings, past, present, and future, until Christ comes again. Everyone is set free if they choose Christ, granting communion with him, truth that makes us free. But if We refuse God's plan of love. We deceive ourselves. And again, we become a slave to sin. The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. Right? Our world and our culture, our secular culture will sometimes whisper in our ears and say, You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want, and no one should tell you otherwise. That is freedom. That is not freedom. Again, it's slavery to sin. The church goes on. It is false to maintain that man, that us, which is the subject of freedom, we are created in God's image and likeness, is an individual who is fully self-sufficient, and whose finality is a satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods. The church is saying not to be selfish, but to be selfless, to sacrifice as Christ does, and that will set you free. That is part of Christ's yoke. Again, the catechism continues. By his glorious cross, Christ has won salvation for all people. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. For freedom, Christ has set us free. In him we have communion with the truth that makes us free. The Holy Spirit has been given to us. And as the apostle teaches, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And already we glory in the liberty of the children of God because we have his church, the final age, and the sacraments that set us free, uniting us to Christ. And finally, the catechism continues: the grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience attests, especially in prayer and also in the martyrs of our church. The more docile we are to the prompting of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trials in this world, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace, the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work, the church. And in the world. The freedom that Christ is sets us free to proclaim the gospel that gives us peace and joy because of that we fear nothing. So as we celebrate this great mass, as we rece receive the Eucharist that sets us free, uniting us to Christ, we give thanks for the gifts that we have given. We give thanks for this country, but we also pray and fast for this country. We pray and fast for the world as well. That everyone in the world who governs us will build and construct everything under God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Brothers, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If the shows add value to your life, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Share with a brother who needs it, leave us a review, and finally support the show so we can keep fighting. Links are in the show notes. We'll see you next week.