30
What
i
the
point
ofBeing
a
Chrktian?who
seemed
to
be
just
as
resistant
as
children
in
WesternEurope.
I
dicl
notknowhowto
answerthe
quesriolard
so
Ipurr.ai,
io
iiy
.o_pnn_ionfor
thattrip,
a
moraltheoiogian
*rr.aw";Ji".i,
Li".,r.i1
o-r*,".
t
the
AngeJicum
Universityirr
Rome.-
/
"
,
r
Hewenttotheblackboardanddrew
a
smali
square
in
a
corner.
,ID
that
square
are
the
commandments.
Is
that
,rtu,,r,o.olitfi.'ofr"r,r,Ora
everyone
cried
,Of
course.,,No,,
he
said,
,God
i,
no,
_i
J
i"r1.".,"0
,"
ommandments.'Then
he
drew
a
square
which
coveredalrtrrerest
ofthe
boardand
he
said,,That
is
freedom.Tf,u,
ir
r1,fr",
i.,.."],,
Gri.
*.,
orU
s
to
teach
your
children
to
be
free.
Th"r
i^,
th;;;;.l;
"iln"L".o",r,
nd
ofst
Thornas
Aquinas.'r
was
so
movedbythis
that
I
decidedimme_
diately
that
if
I
everhadasabbatical
,
*;;;^ilr
il.ln"",Ir;
"r..",
heology,
which
had
somehorstudies
in
thechaotic
late
196,[.8ot
skipped
in
my patchy
theological
'For
freedom
Christ
has
setusfree;
stand
fasttirerefore,
and
donotubmit
again
to
the yoke
of
slavery,
(Galatians
S.fl.
Or.
,irfi.,frirg,
that,
shourd
be
srrikirglv
differeritabout
irr.jrit"r,i'ri""rl'i"
"".
reedonr.
people
shouldlookar
us
and
be
puzzled
Uy
o",
"rirn*f,ing
iberty.Alas,
this
isunlikeJy
to
happen.
TheChurch
;J,;;;,;:'.:l
repressive
insritution
*hi.i,
;,
_nrru,,rl,
;;;;;;"'"'":iffi;rjri
notdo
wharthey
want
and
musrdowhat
,rr",
iJr"iir*.
ar'ri,,ri"_
lake
wrote,
Priests
in
blackgowns
were
walkingtheirroundsAndbinding
with
briars
myjoysand
desires.r
.
W;ster.nsociety
is
profoundly
ambiguousabout
freedom.
On
rhe
one
.rnd
we
belongtowhat
is
called
the.F"r*
,";;:*;;;;;;;;:,,r..
doms:freedom
of
speech,
the
freedom
of
movement,
tovote
as
we
wish
nd
so
on.-TheEuropean
ValuesStu<ly
shows
,n"ii*.a"_,
..O"r.ra_
r,iPersrrn.ri
arrtonorrry,
is
the
rtrrPril'15.
And
yet
our
society
is
h",r)st
r''portant
varuefcrr
modern
Euro-
*::,
_:,
';;,
;;.J.;;jilj::
:1""::,iini:j,:i,T:.ffT,,,,",
rrr,rr"r,ellous
spcech
ofMartin
Lutl
,t.crrrrrl
The
,tr",,,, ,.,,.^r
r
,'t...^l.nt
on
28
August196-t,:;
1.,nu..,
.rrrJ
whire,
l"*.o,,0'[",-',..i!]ii'il.
'"t"
all
of
Gods
children,
black,,,,,,
r'",'d,
u,,d.infr,;;;"';;;;::::i"nts
aad
Cathorics,
will
be
abte
ro
l::r
";il';ffifi
HT,:':.f
.".?"::i:iFjii;;::Tii::i
''fhe
(;ardeD
ol
Lovel
cirrpfurc
l,yori-i,cd.
ceoifrcy
Keynes,
Oxford
1969,
p.
215.
Learning
Spontaneity
3l
the
Berlin
Wall
has
fallen,the
Free
Market
has
triurnphed,
and
yet
wefeel
if
anything
less
free
than
before.
We
lockup
more
peopl.tiianut
uny
time
h
our
history.
Americaimprisons
n
highe,pe..entag.
ofit
p"opt.
thananyother
society
in
the
world
except
China.
W.
r.l.
tn"
J.i,.top_
n]ent
of
whatwe
inBritain
callthe,NannyStatelthe
culture
of
controi,
and
we
livein
dread
of
morecurious
regulations
from
Brussels.
.
More
thanthat,manypeople
feel
mentallyimprisoned:imprisonedby
drugs
and
alcohol,
by
their
past
or
childhood,
Uy
po,n
.ry
o.'ion.iin..r,
by
their
genes.
It
is
oddthat
in
this
free
,o.i.ty
ro
-uny
p_ple
feelthem_selves
to
be
constrained.
Even
wealthyona
,rr...*fut
p"opt.
oi.n
feel
trapped.We
havebecome
free
only
tofind
that
it
isoftenan
empry
liber
ty.
As
Zygmunt
Baumanwrote,,There
isa
nasty
fly
of
impotence
in
the tasty
ointmentof
freedom,cooked
in
the
cauldronof
i.,aViir"lir"-
tion;
thatimpotence
is
felt
to
be
all
the
more
odious,
discomforting
and
up^setting
in
view
of
theempowerment
that
freedom
_u,
."p.a"d
ao
deliver.'2
At
theend
of the
1990
European
ValuesStudy,
Ba.t
UiC.itri.t
wrote.that
Europeansneed
a
.pedagogy
of
freedoml
Freedom
is
thecentralyalue
ofmodern
Europeans,
but
we
do
not
knowhow
toenjoy
it.
So
our
society
is
ripefor
the
message
ofgospel
freedom:thisshouta
be
attheheart
ofour
evangelization.
But
it
cannot
be
so
unl.rs
*e
f"cenndovercomethe
timid
lack
of
freedom
whichoftencripples
the
lifeof
the
Church,otherwise
our
words
will
have
no
authoriilat
all.
One
luy
a
motherbrought
her
child
to
see
MahatmaGandhi.
Shewas
worriedthat
this_child
was
deeplyaddicted
to
sweets
and
asked
thewise
manto
per_
suade
her
to
learn
moderation.Gandhi
asked
themother
to
takethe
child
away
and
to
return
in
three
weeks,
which
she
did.
Gandhithen
talkedto the
child
and
persuadedhertocutdown.
At
theendthe
mother
asked
him,'But
why,
Gandhijidid
you
not
say
thistothe
girl
threeweeks
ago.'He
replied,
'Because
three
weeks
ago
I
too
was
addited
to
sweets.,
We
Christianstoo
need
to
be
liberatedfrom
whatever
holds
us
captive
if
we
are
to
speak
of
freedom
with
conviction.Kantmaintained
that
freedomcannot
beexplained,
only
defended.l
We
cannot
offer
an
explanation
ofChristian
freedom,but
wecan
look
atit_inaction,atthe Last
Supper.
This
sign
of
hope
is
the
1ieest
ofall
acts.
The
LastSupper
was
a
passover
meal.
It
wasthe
feast
ofIsraelt
libera_
tigl
frorn
slavery
in
Egypt.
)esus
reclines
with
hisdisciplesat thetable,
with
thebeloved
disciplerestingon
his
breast.
This
wasa
sign
of
their
3
LiqxittMndenltv,Canbridge
2000.
p.
15.
Quotedby
t\\a.rnre
Anlhonv
AppiJh,
?/r.
A/,ftr
d/
,/rnr4v,
prinieron
2005. p.
.)0.
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