The Only Obstacle to Freedom

 By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 25, 2025

The old Janis Joplin tune goes, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Sorry, Janis. With freedom, we gain everything. The only obstacle to our freedom is sin.

God created us in freedom. He placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden as a test of our freedom. Our first parents failed the test. The Church teaches that Original Sin didn’t destroy us. Even sin cannot obliterate God’s good creation. However, Original Sin badly wounded human nature, and we became slaves to sin in need of redemption.

Preaching against sin is part of a parish priest’s job description as God’s prophet. Jesus teaches us, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” (Lk. 13:24) Unrepentant sin slams the door shut on salvation and enslaves us. Repentance in Jesus reopens the door. As a Church-appointed expert in God’s objective law, it is easier for a priest to tell you what not to do than to advise you on the many virtuous options you have.

The Ten Commandments, as updated by Jesus through His Church, teach us to reject false gods, respect parents and lawful authorities, and reject the slavery of hate, murder, adultery, pornography, theft, and lies. The Commandments express human freedom. A child who knows little of the world learns to trust and obey his parents to achieve happiness. A person who worships God with piety, respects lawful authorities, reverences human life, is faithful in marriage, respectful of private property, and is honest—is a free man, even if imprisoned. Freedom, obedience, and joy are inextricably linked.

Prophets such as Pope John Paul II elegantly affirm, as in Veritatis Splendor, that good ends never justify evil means. It is never morally acceptable to choose intrinsically evil acts to attain good results. Catholic martyrs chose death in union with Jesus rather than commit an intrinsically evil act. Paralyzing fear may reduce the subjective culpability for an evil act, but such desperation cannot transform an evil action into an act of virtue.

More: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/only-obstacle-to-freedom/