Most of us we were baptized as infants and we became a son or daughter of God. Most of us may have been confirmed in our faith at a young or adolescent age. But something was missing for most of us. We believe that God did something in our life but our response was inadequate at the time. We may have repented of our sins but the centrality of Jesus as Lord and Savior may not have been there. We knew about the Father, the Son and the HS, but we didn't have a personal encounter with God. (Whoever does not deny his father and mother etc and does not follow me cannot be my disciple.)

It is like, even though I have been gifted with muscles in my arms, if I am bound with chains for ten years, the gift and power of the muscles are limited. I don't realize I hold the key that could unlock the lock. However, if I think this is natural to me, then I will accept being bound and live with this restriction. But once I become aware that there is something more for me and I begin to long for the more, then the chains become loosened, until I am fully free. But I must act on this new freedom.

Sometimes we have become so accustom to our enclosure that even though unbounded physically we remain bound interiorly. I am reminded of a dream a person had. In that dream she saw a large wired cage in which a bird was held captive. The bird would fly from one side to the other but remained enclosed. Then someone tore the door off its hinges, leaving a big opening in the cage. As the dream continued the bird continued to fly from one side to the next, never exiting from captivity. What was forced bondage became chosen bondage.

What frees us from only living in a valid but bound sacrament is the grace of God recognized and acted on.