Book Review: "Interior Freedom" by Fr. Jacques Philippe
Jacques Philippe’s Interior Freedom is a small, simple, easy-to-read book that, like his other works, packs a powerful spiritual punch. Through this book he teaches us how to overcome our daily struggles. He examines our weaknesses from many angles, like the facets of a diamond, and shows us how our fears and rebellion against reality keep us from being truly happy. Our real freedom, he says, lies inside and is directly related to our ability to love.
What is Freedom?
One of the stumbling blocks to becoming free is that we have the wrong ideas about freedom, says Philippe. We think that it means throwing off all constraints and authority. We imagine freedom as something external, he says, an overcoming of limitations, but it is not these external things that constrict us. “Even in the most unfavorable outward circumstances we possess within ourselves a space of freedom that nobody can take away, because God is its source and guarantee,” says Philippe. “Without this discovery we will always be restricted in some way and never taste true happiness.”
Victim Mentality
All of us have experienced this sense of living within our own mental prisons due to fears, and sins of pride, anger and unforgiveness. According to Philippe, these sins stem from a lack of love and can lead to the victimization that so many of us feel. “People who haven’t learned how to love will always feel like victims; they will feel restricted wherever they are,” says Philippe.
If our suffering makes us bitter, we need to “Root ourselves in God through faith and prayer; stop blaming people around us for what’s not going well in our lives and stop seeing ourselves as victims; shoulder responsibility and accept our lives as they are; use our capacity for believing hoping and loving to the full,” says Philippe.
Accepting Our Situations
Society believes that greater freedom comes from a greater range of choices, but Philippe points out that there is another way of exercising freedom: consenting to what we did not originally choose. Rebellion might seem romantic, but when we rebel against what is and reject reality, we add more pain and despair to the existing pain he says.
Accepting Ourselves and Others
One of the biggest obstacles to interior freedom is in failing to love ourselves. By failing to accept ourselves for who we are, we block God’s grace and mercy from working in us, says Philippe. “We find it’s so difficult to accept our own deficiencies because we imagine they make us unlovable… our deficiencies don’t prevent God from loving us—just the opposite!” he says. Also, when we accept ourselves, it becomes easier to accept other people, says Philippe. “Often we fail to accept others because deep down, we do not accept ourselves.”
Freedom and the Present Moment
An essential condition of interior freedom is to live in the present moment, says Philippe. We often spend so much of our time worrying about the future or regretting the past and wishing it were different. The present moment is rich in grace, he says, and is where God is present. That’s not to say that we should never think about the past and what we could have done differently, but that we shouldn’t obsess about it. “To lock ourselves into the past would be a serious lack of trust in the infinite mercy and power of God.”
Not living in the present also damages our relationships with others. “A heart preoccupied by concerns and worries isn’t available to other people,” says Philippe. “If we can’t offer our children that kind of time, they will never feel secure in our love, no matter how many expensive gifts we lavish on them.”
Forgiveness
Modern culture justifies resentment and revenge, but only forgiveness can diminish the suffering that burdens mankind. Forgiveness is one of the highest forms of charity, says Philippe. “Unless we practice forgiveness, we will never achieve inner freedom but will always be prisoners of our own bitterness,” he says. “Refusing to forgive a wrong adds another wrong to the first. We are increasing the quantity of evil in the world.”
Forgiving is not the same as condoning a wrong. It is having hope and believing that something inside a person can be transformed. “The gospel expresses a ‘law’ of being human: those who refuse to forgive, who refuse to love, will sooner or later be victims of their own lack of love,” says Philippe.
Learning to Love: Giving and Receiving Freely
According to Philippe, learning to love is simple: It means learning to give freely and receive freely. But as children of divorce, our views of love have been distorted. We don’t trust it, and because we feel we didn’t receive the kind of love we needed, we are often at a loss as to how to love well. Loving is too vulnerable for those of us who have spent a lifetime protecting ourselves from getting hurt. Giving and receiving love, says Philippe, means abandoning ourselves, and requires a lot of humility because our minds have been conditioned by the struggle to survive.
Identity
One of man’s deepest needs is the need for identity, says Philippe, our need to know who we are and to exist in our own eyes and the eyes of others. The basic needs are love and communion; the need for truth—in order to love we need to know; and the need for identity – in order to love we need to be,” says Philippe. At a superficial level, he says, we try to fulfill this need with material things—to satisfy our need for being by having. On a slightly higher level we strive to satisfy our need to be by acquiring talents or wisdom—to satisfy our need for being by doing. “Identity is not rooted in the sum of one’s aptitudes. Individuals have a unique value and dignity, independently of what they can do” says Philippe.
He says we are all born with a deep wound experienced as a lack of being. Those of us from broken homes, experience this more deeply. We compensate, he says, by constructing a self different from our real self, and because this false self or identity is so fragile, we believe it needs protecting. “Dying to ourselves means dying to this artificial ego, so the real ‘self’ given us by God can emerge,” says Phillippe.
Like most things in the spiritual life, his teachings are simple but not easy. But by focusing on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love we are able to satisfy our needs in God, to trust him and to accept everything that comes our way, knowing that His grace is sufficient.
About the Author
Sandy grew up in Southern California where she spent her time camping, surfing and horseback riding. She earned a B.A. in journalism from Cal State, Long Beach, and has written for Black Belt and Boys’ Life magazines and various community newspapers. She has been married for twenty years and now lives in Minnesota with her husband Mark. She has a blended family with two stepsons, one who earned his Masters in Theology, another who is a talented musician, and one son in seminary.
Sandy rediscovered her Catholic faith upon moving to Minnesota nine years ago, and in the last two years has begun the healing process from her parents' divorce. She has been retired since 2019. She is also a Life-Giving Wounds online retreat leader.
Reflection Questions for Small Groups or Individuals
Have you read Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacques Philippe? If so, what do you recall about the message of the book that speaks to you as an adult child of divorce? If you haven’t read it, what from Sandy’s article speaks to you about Fr. Philippe’s work as it relates to your experience?
Take a moment to reflect on one of the sections of this post (e.g. “Accepting Ourselves and Others“). Where is the Lord leading you as you reflect? What actions can you take to follow where He is leading?
Take some time to write in detail about your experience with, or struggle with, interior freedom.