The Catholic Defender: Freedom isn’t Free/America, Freedom always comes at a high price
- Jan 31
- 2 min read
The Virgin Mary exemplifies true freedom not as autonomy, but as the perfect, willing cooperation with God's will, particularly through her "Yes" at the Annunciation. Free from original sin and concupiscence, her life demonstrates that genuine liberation is found in total, loving surrender to God. She serves as a guide, leading individuals from sin to the freedom found in Jesus.
The "Fiat" as Radical Freedom: Mary's response to the Angel Gabriel ("Be it done to me according to your word") was a voluntary,, free choice to accept a life of service, embodying perfect, active obedience.
Freedom from Sin (Immaculate Conception): Because she was conceived without Original Sin, Mary did not have the disordered desires (concupiscence) that restrict human free will, allowing her to make perfectly free choices to love and serve God.
True Liberty vs. License: Mary exemplifies that freedom is not merely the ability to choose, but the capacity to choose the good. She is viewed as a model of freedom from attachment, sin, and self-centeredness.
Intercessor for Freedom: Mary is seen as a guide who brings believers to a place of spiritual freedom, specifically through sacramental life, prayer, and trust in Jesus.
Model of Consecration: As the "handmaid of the Lord," she shows that total surrender to God actually results in the highest form of personal freedom.
Free Will and Choice: Although immaculately conceived, Mary possessed free will and could have theoretically refused God, but she voluntarily chose to cooperate with grace.
In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman.
St. Paul emphatically declares that, according to the divine plan, the Blessed Virgin Mary freely cooperated with Jesus in making us children of God, writing, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
“This is something we should indeed learn on the day of the Immaculate Conception: the person who abandons himself totally in God’s hands does not become God’s puppet, a boring ‘yes man or woman’; he does not lose his freedom. Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great, creative immensity of the freedom of good. The person who turns to God does not become smaller but greater, for through God and with God he becomes great, he becomes divine, he becomes truly himself.” Pope Benedict
The Virgin Mary represents the highest form of human freedom by exercising her free will to perfectly align with God’s will, particularly through her "yes" at the Annunciation. As the "New Eve," her sinless nature (Immaculate Conception) provided a pure, uninhibited freedom to choose God, untainted by original sin.
True Freedom as Obedience: Mary’s life demonstrates that true freedom is not doing whatever one wants, but rather the capacity to love and serve God.
Freedom from Sin: She is considered "all holy" and free from personal sin, serving as a model for liberation from the bondage of sin.
Intercessor for Freedom: Mary acts as a guide, leading believers toward her son, Jesus, to experience spiritual freedom and divine mercy.
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