FR MICHAEL BOAKYE YEBOAH
CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF KUMASI, GHANA
FREE WILL
Today, based on our readings given for our reflections I have decided to write on the theme “Free Will.” Free will is a lovely and enticing phrase that catches the attention of many people but the demands it makes on us can be enormous. Firstly, let us try to seek an insight into the phrase “Free Will.”
Some scholars are of the view that “Free will is the capacity or ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.” Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actions that are freely chosen.
As a Catholic I side with the Catholic doctrine on “Free Will” which posits that “free will recognizes that God has given men and women the capacity to choose good or evil in their lives.” The bishops at the Second Vatican Council declared that the human person, endowed with freedom, is “an outstanding manifestation of the divine image” (Gaudium et Spes, No. 17). However, human freedom does not legitimate bad moral choices, nor does it justify a stance that all moral choices are good if they are free: “The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1740).
How can a person exercise his/her “free will” if (s)he has not been formed well? Studying the religiosity and historicity of the first reading very well, I would like to think that our world seems to be in the same situation the Jews found themselves in, among the Hellenists on a foreign soil.
Jews are distinctive people with a highly defined culture which has God as the author and the reference point of all that they do. Their lives were meant to be strictly guided by the laws of God without any room for personal wishes or philosophies. But things weren’t smooth as their creed and doctrines demanded of them. In the midst of all these inconsistencies, their oneness of mind/conscience was intact because they were always proud to reference all their activities to God and his laws. Such a rich cultural heritage underwent some drastic changes when some Jews found themselves in presumably Alexandria (Egypt).
In Alexandria, most Jews were deeply exposed to the Hellenistic culture to the extent that some of younger ones lost touch with their rich Jewish culture. The radicalization of the changes was such that in the lives of most of the Jews there was nothing left that nuanced Judaism. Caught up in such a mess, God blessed them with the presence of an old man who became to them a reminder of the Jewish culture.
The work that Ben Sirach authored was a masterpiece of a literature. Besides being applicable to all people, the book of Sirach addresses the fundamental question, “What promotes well-being?” It offers advice on coping with difficult circumstances, in a sense giving parental counsel to growing children, but also offering popular advice to people of all ages. One of such popular advice we find is the one we read in today’s first reading on the exercise of “free will.”
Jews knew only one life but on a foreign soil the people were exposed to Hellenistic ways and so without imposing Jewish culture on them, the old man Ben Sirach gave them the room to exercise their free will and the inspired writer captured his wise words graphically:
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you
trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and
death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is
the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes
of God are on those who fear him; he understands man’s every deed.
No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.
The inspired writer stated clearly that the doors of salvation are open to everyone who makes the right choice. There is a popular adage that goes: “If you do not go to heaven, don’t blame Jesus.” I love the last sentence in today’s first reading: “No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” We should try and stop finding excuses for our misdeeds because they all come down to the choices we make.
As a formator, I would like to suggest that the exercise of free will should be preceded with formation of conscience. If a person is not informed with the godly and right way of living, a bad cultural norm which has been accepted by a given society may seem good for the person. The Hellenistic cultural norms became so wide spread that the Jews who lacked knowledge in the Jewish culture thought of it as good because it was the “normal” way of life of people of the time. And this is what I am afraid of for our generation. Some children are being born in a culture whereby some “satanic” ways are gaining legal approval to the extent that some young people do not see sin in them. If we do not educate our children rightly, it will affect their exercise of the free will.
We cannot reference the exercise of our free will to some of the ordinance of our secular world. In the second reading, St Paul gave a wise counsel when he wrote: “Brothers and sisters: We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew…”
If one’s life is not guided by the wisdom of God, it will definitely affect his exercise of free will. Today’s long gospel passage can be summarized with a sentence: “whatever we do comes with direct consequences and so we should wise up in our exercise of free will.” OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.
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