If the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed

Book of Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95. 
King Nebuchadnezzar said: "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you will not serve my god, or worship the golden statue that I set up? 
Be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I had made, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments; otherwise, you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace; and who is the God that can deliver you out of my hands?" 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 
If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! 
But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up." 
Nebuchadnezzar's face became livid with utter rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual 
and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace. 
King Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" "Assuredly, O king," they answered. 
"But," he replied, "I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God." 
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 



Book of Daniel 3:52.53.54.55.56. 
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, 
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; 
and blessed is your holy and glorious name,   
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages. 

Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, 
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever. 
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, 
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Blessed are you who look into the depths 
from your throne upon the cherubim; 
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, 
praiseworthy and glorious forever.





Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:31-42. 
Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 
They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, 'You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 
A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains.
So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free. 
I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. 
I tell you what I have seen in the Father's presence; then do what you have heard from the Father."
They answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. 
You are doing the works of your father!" (So) they said to him, "We are not illegitimate. We have one Father, God." 
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me. 

"If the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed"

      My brothers, we have been born anew by baptism… “If with this life only in view we have had hope in Christ, we are of all people the most to be pitied” (1Cor 15:19). Earthly life, as you yourselves see, for beasts, domestic animals, and the birds of the air is of the same span or longer than ours. What is special to humans is what Christ has given them through his Spirit—that is, life everlasting, but on condition, however, that we sin no more… “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).

      My little ones, above all hold fast to this: formerly the nations were delivered up to the powers of darkness; now we have been set free thanks to the victory of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is he who has redeemed us… He released the captives and broke our bonds, as David had said: “The Lord sets captives free; the Lord gives sight to the blind” (Ps 145[146]:7). And in another place he says: “You have loosened my bonds. I will offer to you the thank-offering of praise” (Ps 115[116]:16). Yes, freed from our chains, when we rally round the standard of the Lord through the sacrament of baptism, we are delivered by the blood and the name of Christ…

      Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, we are washed but once; we are only liberated once; we are only received once into the immortal kingdom. It is only once that “Happy are those whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered” (Ps 31[32]]:1) Hold firm, then, to the gift received, safeguard your joy, and do not commit further sin. Preserve yourselves pure and innocent for the day of the Lord.

When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize that I AM

Book of Numbers 21:4-9. 
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, 
the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!" 
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. 
Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people, 
and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." 
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered. 



Psalms 102(101):2-3.16-18.19-21. 
LORD, hear my prayer; 
let my cry come to you. 
Do not hide your face from me 
now that I am in distress. 
Turn your ear to me; 
when I call, answer me quickly. 

The nations shall revere your name, O LORD, 
and all the kings of the earth your glory, 
when the LORD has rebuilt Zion 
and appeared in his glory; 
when he has regarded the prayer of the destitute, 
and not despised their prayer. 

Let this be written for the generation to come, 
and let his future creatures praise the LORD: 
"The LORD looked down from his holy height, 
from heaven he beheld the earth, 
to hear the groaning of the prisoners, 
to release those doomed to die." 




Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:21-30. 
Jesus said to the Pharisees: "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come."
So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. 
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."
So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." 
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. 
So Jesus said (to them), "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. 
The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." 
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him. 

“When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize that I AM”

The person who truly venerates the Lord’s passion must look so hard at Jesus crucified with the eyes of his heart that he recognizes his own flesh in that of Jesus… No sick person can imagine himself refusing the triumph of the cross and there is no one who does not find help in Christ’s prayer. If this prayer benefited many of his torturers, how much more will it help those who turn to him!

By the fact that the divinity adopted our nature, because of which “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” (Jn 1:14) was any person excluded from his mercy unless he refused to believe? If we welcome him who assumed it and are regenerated by the Spirit who begot him, do we not have a nature that we share with Christ? In addition, who would not recognize their own weaknesses in him… who “took the form of a slave” (Phil 2:7)? …

This lifeless body that lay in the tomb but rose on the third day and ascended up above all the heavenly heights to the right hand of the Father’s majesty, this body is ours. If we walk in the way of his commandments and are not ashamed to profess all he did for our salvation in emptying himself in the flesh, then we also shall be lifted up to share in his glory. For what he announced will be radiantly fulfilled: “Whoever acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge before my father in heaven.” (Mt 10:32)