One thing each of us desires in his innermost being is freedom. Oftentimes, we strive to attain it in ways that are counteractive to the real freedom we desire. We often look for freedom in “all the wrong places,” such as the pleasures this world offers, when instead we need to look beyond the material things of the world and turn to the almighty, all-loving God. In his book, Interior Freedom, Father Jacques Philippe, arguably one of the greatest living Christian spiritual writers, offers us guidance on how to find true freedom through the building of a deep and meaningful relationship with God and those around us.
Within the first few pages of Interior Freedom, Father Philippe says, “We have this great thirst for freedom because our most fundamental aspiration is for happiness; and we sense that there is no happiness without love, and no love without freedom. This is perfectly true” (p. 13). It is in truth that we find freedom, as Truth Himself tells us: “the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). It is in knowing and choosing the Truth, which is incarnate in Jesus Christ, that we find freedom. While this is how we find true interior freedom, to end here would be like teaching children addition by handing them a worksheet for them to learn on their own. While some children may be able to teach themselves, instructing them step by step on how to add is more effective. Père Philippe teaches well, for he lays out each step of gaining interior freedom in a way that is easy to understand and practical for each person who truly desires freedom.
The Acceptance of Ourselves
The Reverend author tells us that the first step to interior freedom is acceptance of self, meaning — contrary to how many today would explain it — that we must understand that we are fully dependent on God. The more we accept this and act accordingly, the more freedom we will experience, as counterintuitive as this sounds to the modern mind. God is fully aware of our failings and weaknesses and loves us where we are, though He certainly does not want us to remain there. If almighty God is able to do this — to love us — why can’t we love ourselves and accept ourselves as we are? On this topic Interior Freedom tells us, “What often blocks the action of God’s grace in our lives is less our sins or failings, than it is our failure to accept our own weakness — all those rejections, conscious or not, of what we really are or of our real situation” (p. 33). While accepting ourselves is incredibly important, the good Father points out that it is also necessary that we step outside of ourselves and accept and love others in order to obtain true interior freedom. He says that acceptance of self and acceptance of others go hand-in-hand: one cannot flourish without the other; we cannot accept our neighbor with his faults and failings due to an inability to accept ourselves and vice versa. A crucial part of accepting others is forgiveness. When we refuse to forgive, we enslave ourselves to resentment. Father Philippe says, “A refusal to forgive also binds us to the person we resent, and diminishes or destroys our freedom” (p. 66).
Some may find this a modern gospel of ease and laxity, but this is not at all the case; Père Jacques Philippe is steeped in the spiritual writers of Catholic tradition, from the Desert Fathers to the Medievals, and from the Counter-Reformation greats to his fellow countryman, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. The whole point of genuine interior freedom is that it liberates us to acquire virtue and therefore to grow in the love of God. The three most important virtues, of course, are the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, which have God as their object. Father Philippe tells us, “we can only acquire interior freedom to the degree we develop these three virtues” (p. 94), which cannot operate in a supernaturally meritorious way without each other. Saint Paul affirmed this when he said, “If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Charity, or theological love, is the greatest of the three, as we were created with the purpose to love another — specifically, God. If we are lacking in faith or hope, however, charity simply does not exist.
We often feel that there is some sort of exterior thing in our lives restricting us from growing in relationship with God and others. It is easy to blame family, work, or “busyness”; however, these are just excuses. We place gates around our heart, not allowing us to give and receive love to the fullest extent possible. The interior freedom that the saints experience is achieved by removing the barriers surrounding their hearts and letting themselves give and receive love freely. Seeing ourselves for who we are — needy and beloved children of the Father — allows the Holy Ghost to work within our hearts. As mentioned before, external events should not affect us or be excuses for our lack of interior freedom.
The Acceptance of Suffering
But realistically, we have little control of the world around us, and we often find ourselves experiencing suffering from the vicissitudes of life in this “vale of tears.” How are we to deal with situations in our lives that cause us harm, discomfort, and pain? Père Philippe tells us that we should not accept them begrudgingly, but instead — not unlike Saint Francis de Sales — he advises us to “welcome the situation” (p. 45). God can and does draw good out of every situation, for Saint Paul says, “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good” (Rom. 8:28). Vital to this salutary acceptance of suffering is the realization that fighting it or attempting to remedy it often causes stronger suffering and more pain. This is especially true if we try to reject or avoid suffering, as God does not intend this for us. Father Philippe tells us what we somehow already know deep down: “What really hurts is not so much suffering itself as the fear of suffering” (p. 47). The greatest suffering is that which we create in our minds, not accurately depicting reality.
A plague of the human race is stress. It is something that has been experienced since the Fall and is a result of it. Stress comes from an unhealthy obsession with the events of the future over which we often do not have any control. When we give in to stress, we lose the ability to live in the current moment, which is a shame and a loss; we are not promised anything aside from the present moment. Our guide lays out a great example of what this looks like on our journey through life, saying, “the ladder of perfection has only one step: the step we take today” (p. 83). It is also crucial not to focus on the past either. The past is unchangeable, and, allowing for some exceptions, it only affects the present to the extent that we allow it. If we shift our mindset to focus only on the present moment and our relationships here and now, we allow ourselves to break free of the chains that hold us back from encountering God and those around us. This may sound too much like the “living in the moment” advocated by some new-age guru, but it is not; Truth Himself tells us, in the greatest of all sermons, “be not solicitous” (Matt. 6:25), and “sufficient for the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34). If we are worried and concerned about the past or the future, Father Philippe says that we are essentially telling God that we do not trust Him or His infinite mercy. This way of thinking is not conducive to freedom.
The Acceptance of God’s Grace
A temptation of many faithful Christians, especially those who are scrupulous, is the tendency to make “the law” — by which Father Philippe means “our own [good] deeds” — the foundation of our relationship with God. While the precepts of law are good, holy, and absolutely necessary, they do not constitute the basis of our relationship with God; otherwise, we will end up like the Pharisees, who were known for following the Mosaic law strictly but lost sight of the reason why the law exists — which is to remove the obstacles that prevent us from growing closer to God, the love of whom forms the greatest commandment. To these modern Pharisees, Father Philippe addresses words that paraphrase the great anti-Pharisaical Apostle: “According to grace, we receive salvation and the love of God freely through Christ, quite apart from our merits, and freely respond to that love by the good works the Holy Spirit enables us to accomplish” (p. 114). One way to think about this is through the analogy of marriage. If a marriage is built on a foundation of rules, i.e., no cheating, no lying, etc., there is obvious disorder. Rather, a spouse should think, “Because I love you and desire to love you more, I won’t cheat, I won’t lie to you….” This is how God wants our relationship to be with Him, not only for His glory, but also for our good. There is more freedom and joy in a relationship that is built on love rather than rules. If we love Him, we freely submit to His will: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). But the same Beloved Disciple who related these words of Our Lord also spells out their necessary precondition: “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). It is precisely by receiving this love that we are enabled to love Him in return.
Something countless people wrestle with is gift buying. When the dreaded Christmas shopping season arrives, many people wonder who they should get gifts for, sometimes by asking, “What has this person done for me that he deserves a gift?” Then there is that awful moment of awkwardness that transpires when someone gets a gift for another and there is no gift in return. This angst, dread, and pain come from the woundedness of human nature. We give because we have received or will receive something in return. Love, however, is meant to be given and received freely, as Our Lord Himself said: “freely have you received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). The life of grace is not a quid pro quo — a too-human arrangement that reduces God to a cosmic vending machine and, in the last analysis, falls under the censure of Saint Paul: “grace is no more grace” (Rom. 11:6). This is a delicate point, as we know that the economy of grace clearly involves good works on our part. As a teacher of once mine put it, “divine love makes demands upon us.”
What Father Philippe wants us to keep ever before our mind is our nothingness (and therefore, our radical dependence on God), and the sheer gratuity of His grace, ideas he supports with two Biblical passages juxtaposed in a footnote (p. 118): “[Jesus] reminds us that we are useless servants (Luke 17:10), but also says that the workers of the eleventh hour receive the same payment as those of the first hour (Matt. 20:1-6).” Heaven is the eternal living out of our relationship with God, and unless we give ourselves to God freely and wholeheartedly, and receive Him and His love in the same manner, we will not find ourselves among the Blessed.
The Acceptance of Our True Identity
Another common human tendency is to build our identity around particular person, thing, or ability in our lives. It is easy to see this with infatuated young couples or alcoholics, but, short of that, we all become attached to things that are not as visibly obvious, such as talents, abilities, strengths, personality traits — the list is nearly inexhaustible. Everything we have has been bestowed on us by God, which means that He can take it away at any given point. Instead of finding who we are in any of these worldly objects or abilities, we must find our identity in being beloved children of the Father. Father Philippe says that “the only people who are truly free are those who have nothing left to lose” (p. 130). We can see this played out in history by the people who lived in the Gulag or concentration camps. Many of these people were joyful, happy, and free, and this should not shock us; it is nothing more or less than the realization of the first Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
Secrets to Interior Freedom
Interior freedom is attainable for all. If we direct our hearts and minds to our relationships with God and others, if we allow ourselves to accept who we are, accept others, find the good in suffering, remove the barriers surrounding our hearts, put our relationship with God first, and find our identity as beloved children of the Father, according to Father Philippe, we can find true happiness and authentic freedom.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
