Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 286 Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 286 - Part I. What is freedom and what is it for?

(Youcat answer) Freedom is the God-given power to be able to act of one’s own accord; a person who is free no longer acts under the influence of someone else.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1730) God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him" (GS 17; Sir 15:14). Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 4, 3: PG 7/1, 983).1730 

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) God created us as free men and wills our freedom so that we might decide wholeheartedly in favor of the good, indeed for the greatest “good” in other words, for God. The more we do what is good, the freer we become.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1731) Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.

(This question: What is freedom and what is it for? is continued)