January 3, 2021

Dear St. Martin of Tours Family,

2020 has taught me that I am far less in control of my life (and by extension the lives of those whom I love so dearly) than I would like to believe. 2020 has taught me that the common subplot to the story of every human life is how to endure loss, and how to live when there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Once in a homily I quoted Janis Joplin’s signature verse from her signature song “Me and Bobby McGee”:

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.”

The song dares us to look on the bright side of darkness. The problem is that no one in this life can be said to have lost everything. Only the souls in hell are dispossessed of everything. A soul in hell is not free.

I would love to revise Janis’s verse this way:

Freedom is just another word for … losing your life for My sake.”

The revised verse doesn’t work with the rest of the song, but it does work with the rest of our lives!

Without God, we are nothing. All our works will come to nothing. What seems to us to be freedom is illusory, a combination of some good planning and a lot of good luck.

However, with God, we are everything. Our works, even if they appear to fail, will flourish, maybe in our time, but most certainly so in eternity.

I want to keep this simple. Here are three levels of divine freedom:

• Freedom is giving our cares and worries to God.
• Freedom is thanking God for all things, in all things.
• Freedom is giving ourselves to God.

Jesus has said many times the more we trust Him, the more He will bless us.

It’s his promise to us. Besides, what have we got to lose?

In Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart,