We humans, especially we Americans, have this illusion that we are free. We even call our country the land of the free and the home of the brave. We say we have free will, and we don't want anyone else to be able to force us to do something we don't want to do. So when Jesus talks about the fact that we are slaves to sin, as He does in today's Gospel (Jn 8: 31- 42), we immediately recoil. We're not slaves, we say. That's the same thing that the people listening to Jesus said when He told them that they were slaves to sin. And note, the people who are disagreeing with Jesus on this point are described by John as "those Jews who believed in (Jesus)." The ones who said they weren't slaves were like us-- believers in Jesus-- and believers that we aren't slaves to anything or anyone. We're wrong, of course, just as the followers of Jesus were wrong on this point. We are slaves. The only question is to what or who. Why do I say that? Can't we choose to do whatever we decide to do? Sure, at one level we make choices, and we can choose "sex, drugs and rock and roll" if we like. But the deeper question is why we make that choice, or any other choice. That's where the conversation gets interesting. None of us is "self-made." We are all the product of all kinds of influences-- parents, other family members, social groups, society in general, friends, the list goes on. Our choices are influenced by all these forces and more. There are even people who made a huge living these days being "influencers" on social media. A tweat or a promo from the right person can cause the sales of a product to jump dramatically. So maybe we need to look a little at what it means to be a slave. A slave is someone who is forced to obey someone else, usually as a legal obligation. Slaves have to do their master's will. There are plenty of ways to force someone to do something. It could be the power of the law, which is what we think of when we're looking at someone who is technically enslaved. Or it could be the power of public opinion, or the power of the need to belong, or to look good, or to be attractive. In a sense a lots of us are enslaved to the Kardashians, in that what they say has such a profound influence over what people do. If you think about it, our choices are always driven by a complex variety of internal needs and external influences. When we decide to do "A" as opposed to "B", that decision is the result of the interplay of those various needs and influences. When we choose sin, it is because the needs and influences that go into that sin are more powerful than those that tell us not to commit that particular sin. We tell a serious lie because our need to preserve our ego makes us want to save face, or our pride whats us to look good, or our greed makes us want to avoid having to pay a bill. We are slaves to sin in the sense that our choice-- while seemingly free-- is actually driven by sinful forces within us. So how do we get out of this slavery to sin? At his weekly general audience on September 12, 2018, Pope Francis gave his answer to this question. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Pope said that only true love of God and neighbor can destroy the chains of greed, lust, anger and envy that enslave us all. "True love is true freedom," the Pope said. "It detaches from possession, rebuilds relationships, it knows how to welcome and value the neighbor, it transforms every struggle into a joyous gift and makes communion possible." Sure that can sound kind ofsimplistic, even sappy. But the Pope's right. If the needs and influences that are driving our choices are a love of God-- wanting to do what pleases the Divine-- and love of neighbor-- wanting what is best for other people, then we will make choices consistent with our true humanity, with being who we were made by God to be. And living that way-- as we were intended to live-- is freedom from all those needs and influences that stand in the way of our perfection. Ok, if you're with me so far, the next question-- the hard question-- is how to make our choices in such a way that loving God and loving neighbor are the influencers. One obvious answer is that we can't do that alone, and need the help of God's grace. So, prayer is key. One additional thought-- when we make choices we might try to get into the habit of asking ourselves whether what we think we want to do is really consistent with loving God and loving our neighbor. No, the question isn't what feels good, or what do we want, or what is someone lese telling us we should do. The question is what makes God happy and leads to the flourishing of others. Maybe the habit of asking that question is one path our of slavery.