Word of the Week

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Slave: Douloo (Gk.): meaning “to make a slave of; servant; reduce to bondage”
Man freely sinned by disobeying God's plan of love, and ultimately became a slave to sin. From the dawn of history, “man has attested to this oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom” (CCC 1739). Christ came to vindicate us from sin and purify our hearts through the grace of justification received in Baptism. The grace received in this sacrament of birth frees us from our enslavement to sin (CCC 1990). This inheritance of freedom needs to be practiced in what is good and just, constantly being routed in a life of prayer. This life of prayer, guided by the Holy Spirit, draws us deeper into the mystery of God’s loving plan (CCC 1733, 2744).
 
Slave can be found 158 times in the Holy Bible: 100 in the Old Testament and 58 in the New Testament. The aforementioned Greek is found eight times in the NT. Paul applies this term in his letter to Rome to accentuate a much larger theme in his epistle--divine sonship. We are no longer obedient slaves to the master of sin, but obedient slaves to the righteousness of God, in which we have been given the gift to cry “Abba, father” as sons of God (Rom.6:15-22; Gal.4:3-7). This cry of divine adoption by grace is our future hope, that we might become sharers of divine nature. If we misuse our freedom we will again slip into the ways of the world and its licentiousness (2 Pet.2:16-19). Collectively, our participation in the divine nature of God is a participation in our Lord’s servant attitude, the disposition that defines loving obedience to the father (Phil.2:1-11).

In American popular culture, we look upon the word slave, and equate it with a very dark period in American history, rightfully so. Always mindful of this, we must always remember the essence of slavery: bondage. Today, as 3000 years ago, we find ourselves in another kind of slavery, the oppression of sin. This bondage of sin has seemingly transcended the course of time in every major period and civilization. We rejoice that God has freed us from this slavery in vindicating us of our human nature (body) and giving us a divine nature (soul). We must always remember the words of Paul to Rome, “For all of you who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, when we cry “Abba! Father” (Rom.8:14-15).

“We are at all times a slave of God, through the nature of Creation and Redemption. It is our choice to become, therefore, either slaves of constraint by refusing to recognize our dependence on God, or slaves of love who rejoice in the reality of our continuous and spousal relationship to God.”

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

 

Primary Texts Consulted

• Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.

 

The Catholic Hour Home Page
Comments or Questions?
Contact Webmaster