Tuesday, May 24, 2016

The Totally Free Man is a Wretched Slave


"Those who understand freedom as the radically arbitrary license to do just what they want and to have their own way are living in a lie, for by his very nature man is part of a shared existence and his freedom is shared freedom. His very nature contains direction and norm, and becoming inwardly one with this direction and norm is what freedom is all about. A false autonomy thus leads to slavery,...the swineherd [of 'the prodigal son'] is the expression of man's most extreme alienation and destitution [the pig being an unclean animal for the Jews]. The totally free man has become a wretched slave."
Jesus of Nazareth, Benedict XVI, 204.

True freedom is shared freedom.

"Libertas" comes from "liber" = son! Relationship, correspondence, cooperation, responsibility to the others, in God.