Freely choosing what is truly good

               Today (Oct 22, 2011), 33 years ago, an obscure bishop from Poland, Karol Wojtyla, became the Bishop of Rome. The election of Pope John Paul II was a surprise.  I remember following the entire election process as a political science major and a senior in college.  (I’m glad that there wasn’t anything such as CNN at the time.  My grades may have dipped for October 1978!)

                I was not Catholic back then and remember the election of Blessed John Paul II as my first encounter with the Catholic Church as an adult.  Today is the first official feast day for him.   And today I finished George Weigel’s The End and Beginning, the biography about this great man of God.  I didn’t plan to finish it today, but I had 70 pages to go and reading it seemed like an appropriate way to celebrate his first feast day.

                Weigel says, “Freedom, John Paul II taught for decades, is not a matter of doing what we like, but of freely choosing what is truly good.”  Also on this day, I watched a news show about the demonstrations that began in New York and are now present in major cities throughout the country.

                I’m all for demonstrations.  Free speech is a hallmark of the United States and peaceful, respectful demonstrations are a unique American experience.  However, these demonstrations are not respectful and it appears that these people are truly lost.  They don’t have something solid on which to base their life.  “We want, we demand” seems to be their mantra.  Moreover, they all don’t even want the same thing!  They don’t understand that no matter how much they have, if they don’t allow God to fill that hole in their hearts, they will live unfulfilling lives.  A college degree is not a guarantee of success or happiness, or a job or even free healthcare.

                Our current American culture sets us up to focus on material things and on ego gratifying goals.  Yet, each day, we deal with situations in which we can “freely choose what is truly good”.  Much of these decisions are contrary with the norm.  How do we choose to treat others when we are in a hurry to rush to our next event of the day?  Is there time to call that elderly friend or relative today, or is the choice to watch TV or update Facebook.  And as we approach the Christmas holidays, how much of the money I spend will I allocate to those who truly are in need?

                These are simple daily choices that I make that can make the difference between “doing what I like or freely choosing what is truly good”.  Thank you Blessed John Paul II for allowing me to think about freedom in a different way today.