Freedom according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE."

Freedom, generally, is having the ability to act or change without constraint. ... A person has the freedom to do things that will not, in theory or in practice, be prevented by other forces. Outside of the human realm, freedom generally does not have this political or psychological dimension.

But does it mean freedom to do as we like? To run wild and unaccountable for our actions?

From the Vatican archives: ARTICLE 3 - MAN'S FREEDOM

1730. God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."26

Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.

I. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

1731. Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.

For the benefit of Catholic youths may I share this meaningful lesson on freedom according to the Church teachings.

A CHAPTER FROM THE YOUNG MAN’S GUIDE- on FREEDOM

by Rev. Father Lasance, 1900.

1. This word “freedom” is understood by many young people in a totally false sense, and frequently interpreted to their own destruction; hence it is that good that conscientious parents and zealous pastors of souls are in constant dread with regard to the young men of the rising generation. You desire freedom, and you are not to be blamed for so doing. But do not confuse true freedom with absence of all restraint. For this is for the most part fraught with dangers, and its results frequently, prove disastrous in the case of young people.

I wish to warn you before hand of these dangers and disastrous results by pointing out to you how you ought to employ your freedom, if you desire to be really free.

​2. How ought you to employ it? Listen to yonder young man, as he greets his newly acquired freedom: “What luck!” Now there will be no more schoolmasters, no more home tasks, no more strict regulations, no being kept in (being grounded), no scolding and petty fault finding. Now I will let myself go, and do what ever I choose - just please myself.”

A truly remarkable manner this, of enjoying freedom! Certainly this is not enjoying freedom as a reasonable being or as a Christian, since it opens the wide the door to the passions which obscure reason and jeopardize one’s eternal interests if allowed to have full sway. It is certainly not enjoying freedom as a well-brought-up young man should do, if good manners, and the regard which is owed to the family, are thus trodden underfoot. To act thus is to enjoy liberty like a savage who knows no law, like a wild beast which is destitute of reason.

3. My dear friend, to enjoy freedom after this fashion is to render yourself unworthy of it, to dishonor and degrade it. Such freedom as this is rebellion against the lawful authority of God, the freedom of sinners, the freedom of evil, of the flesh, of the passions, unreasonable license - yet more - it is bondage itself, according to the words of Holy Scripture: “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John VIII, 34.)

A madman acts in accordance with the promptings of his own fancy, gratifies his impulses and inclinations, but is he therefore to be called truly free? In the same way may every inordinate passion be more or less designated as a sort of madness, which degrades men and destroys their freedom. They are the slaves of their passions.

4. He who goes into the water for the first time in order to learn how to swim, is guided and held fast by the swimming master by means of a rope, in order that, should he begin to sink, he might be drawn out and rescued without any difficulty. But as soon as the pupil has become somewhat familiarized with the water, and has had some practice in swimming, so that he knows how to keep himself afloat, then he is left free, the restraining rope is withdrawn. Consider the training of a child. In the beginning leading strings are necessary; careful nurses must guide the child, but only in order to teach it how to walk alone; they have to support his steps, but only in order to show it how to direct them; they have to point out the goal to be aimed at, but only to incite it to hasten toward that goal.

5. In matters that pertain to morality, the young man who has been properly trained is free to choose between good and evil; but when he has been accustomed to choose the good, he perseveres in it, even when he is far removed from parents and teachers. He knows that freedom does not do away with duty, that it does not confer the right to do whatever he chooses, that it must have reference to God as our last goal and final end, and that, in the case of the free man, the spirit must rule the flesh, and reason hold sway over passion.

6. Such is true freedom - the freedom which you are bound to choose; it is the freedom which Jesus Christ purchased for you with His precious blood; the freedom of which He bestowed upon you with His truth, “The truth shall make you free;” in a word it is that freedom which love gives to the Christian heart, according to the saying of St. Augustine: “Love, and do what you will!” But St. Paul says:” Love is the fulfilling of the Law” (Romans, XIII, 10) I know not what future will be, but this I do know, that it will exactly correspond to the use you make of your freedom; the abuse of it will lead you to shame, the right use of it to eternal felicity. Take your choice!

Freedom according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.