Editor’s note: Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2026 suggests six steps of prayer and contemplation for exploring the daily Scripture passages: The Presence of God, Freedom, Consciousness, The Word, Conversation, and Conclusion. We’ve invited our Ignatian bloggers to explore each step in our continuing series.
Freedom
“By God’s grace I was born to live in freedom. Free to enjoy the pleasures he created for me. Dear Lord, grant that I may live as you intended, with complete confidence in your loving care.” (The Irish Jesuits, Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2026)
When C.S. Lewis says Christian life is both hard and easy, I feel this, deep in my bones. Lewis writes in his book Mere Christianity that Jesus says, “I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You.”
Jesus wants all of us.
I pray that I would understand the freedom to turn myself over to Christ, especially as I am guiding teens and young adults in their faith. Sometimes they think of faith as boxes to be checked on a list: Let’s see, I volunteered on Friday, I gave ten percent of my first check from my new job, and I’ll go to Mass on Sunday morning. Check, check, and check. But a faith-filled life with Jesus isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about giving Jesus our entire life.
Jesus reminded us of this when he quoted as the greatest commandment the Shema, the Hebrew prayer from Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) All our thoughts and all our affections and all our passions should be pointed toward God.
Jesus wants all of us.
My young adults are shocked by this. And, well, it was scandalous in Jesus’ time too. This is why the rich man had such a difficult time committing to Jesus. And I think, too, of younger me. I had so many plans that I wanted to come to fruition before I could commit fully to Jesus. I thought I had better plans than he did. It took trials and, frankly, failing before I finally gave in.
This is the surprise of life with Jesus. You think that you will be restricted or that your life will be small, but, as you surrender all the things to which you held so tightly, your life expands, and you find freedom and abundance. St. Paul puts it this way in Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (12:2)
This is what I want these young people to know, that when they no longer hold tightly to themselves, their ego, or their pride, they will find Jesus. Jesus’ plans are much richer and better than what we could imagine for ourselves. As we live in faith and relationship with Jesus, we discover who we were truly created to be. His will becomes our will.
When you give yourself in freedom to Jesus, you actually become more you. This is what we mean by the transforming grace and love of Jesus. Jesus transforms us. All of us.