Freeing the captive soul

We are born seeking freedom. As adults, we know it is requisite for peace of mind and fulfillment of dreams. Our very health depends on it.

Alfred Delp, SJ, himself a prisoner in a concentration camp during WWII, speaks of his own freedom. He writes, during thee long weeks of confinement I have learned by personal experience that a person is truly lost, is the victim of circumstances and oppression only when he is incapable of a great inner sense of depth and freedom. He goes on to say Anyone whose natural element is not an atmosphere of freedom, unassailable and unshakable whatever force may be put on it, is already lost; but such a person is not really a human being any more; he/she is merely an object, a number, a voting paper. Inner freedom can only be attained if we have discovered the means of widening our own horizons.

Monastics too live with a great deal of freedom, despite that fact that they reside within a restricted area, vow to live a limited form of life (no family, spouse, children) and relinquish a great deal of personal freedom. It comes from liberation of the heart and mind, a vision of the eternal, the shedding of ties that keep us bound to tempory concerns.