Do we live as children of God or as slaves? -- World Day of Peace remarks by Pope Francis -- excerpt of Nat. Catholic Reporter article

from http://ncronline.org/
Mentioning the annual New Year's celebration of the World Day of Peace (January 1), Pope Francis also said three times during his Angelus remarks that "peace is always possible."
"We must search for it," he said. "Remember well: peace is possible and the roots of peace are prayer. Pray for peace!"
The church has celebrated January 1 as the World Day of Peace since 1967. Each year since 1968, the pope has released a peace message to the world on that day.
Francis' message this year takes the theme "No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters," and makes a forceful and personal plea for the end of modern-day slavery -- calling on governments, communities and individuals globally "not to become accomplices" to human trafficking and exploitation in their myriad forms.
The pontiff also addressed the issue of slavery while closing out 2014, saying in a vesper's service in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 31 that God sent Jesus to ransom sinners from slavery.
"Do we live as children [of God] or as slaves?" asked Francis during his homily at the service.
"Do we live as people baptized in Christ, anointed by the Spirit, ransomed and free?" he asked. "Or do we live according to worldly logic: corrupt, doing what the devil wants us to believe is in our best interest?"
Pope Francis told those gathered in the basilica that all people, even Christians, have "a tendency to resist freedom; we fear freedom and, paradoxically, we prefer slavery" although often people are not aware that that is what they are doing.
"Freedom frightens us because it places time before us and, with it, the responsibility to live it well," he said. "A nostalgia for slavery nests in our hearts because it appears more reassuring than freedom, which is much riskier."
Saying the New Year is a time for people to examine their consciences, Francis called especially for people to evaluate how they helped and served the poor.
Christians, he said, must have "the courage to proclaim in our city that the poor must be defended and that we do not need to defend ourselves from the poor, that the weak must be served and not used."