“We’ve been lied to, and somehow we are okay with it. Have you looked around? I mean, really seen what is happening? The pain is real. We got used to it.
Let me ask you something: why are you here? … Do you think someday freedom will just come?
What if, one night at the end of your life, you wake up and look around and discover that freedom never came, and it never happened?”
http://vimeo.com/39947485
Content:
This video, offered by the “Rock” Protestant Church, is called “The Freedom Project.” It portrays a gray and filthy world in which people are bound by “red tape.” There is a small group guided by a messenger, a man who himself has been freed, insisting that freedom is real if they are willing to receive and share it. Thanks to this message, a young woman, on the point of giving up after a long and fruitless struggle with the tape, is guided down and embraced by a member of this group of the free.
A deeper look at freedom:
Using symbols such as the red tape and white bandages, it seeks to uncover the pain and bonds that abound in the lives of so many. The “system that sustains the injustice” lies in each person. It is the presence and the fruit of sin that allows the “lies” to flourish and take root in our society and in our hearts.
Freedom is understood as something real that is “received,” it is above all a gift of Christ who is the Truth that will set us free. Yet, we cannot simply wait for this freedom to come, we have a part to play, we must actively receive and embrace it. At the same time, being a gift, this freedom is destined to be shared.
Apostolic Elements:
1. The greatest source of injustice stems not from the government, from our families, our poverty, our illness… these are all secondary. Above all, the greatest source is sin, that wound in our nature by which we set ourselves against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from him and from our neighbor.
2. It’s important to emphasize that the freedom we all seek, is above all an interior one: freedom from sin, freedom to love, etc. Obviously, this internal dimension does not take away the importance of external freedom, so heatedly discussed today; rather, it reveals its authentic meaning and horizon.
3. The interior battle and frustration of the young woman provides a clear image of the temptation and the fall (at one point, she places the tape on herself) that we all go through in our lives.
4. Freedom is “received.” We cannot obtain it by ourselves. In the video, freedom spreads principally by preaching and by solidarity. From a Catholic standpoint, we understand that the primary spring of freedom comes from the grace received through the sacraments of the Church, especially those of the Mass and Reconciliation.
Accompanying Bible Verse:
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery ~ Gal 5:1
What other elements do you see in the video? How might you use the video? Are there any other clarifications or critiques that need to be made?Please leave a comment so that other’s might benefit and improve their apostolate.
