Freedom

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reedom to love’ was a major goal in this recent and sometimes hurtful Same Sex Marriage debate in Australia. The positive outcome for the ‘Yes vote’ reminds me of a homily by Fr Phil a couple of years ago in which he spoke so encouragingly of the concept of ‘Freedom’, in the Jesuit sense.

Phil went off to India more than sixty years ago at the age of just 20 to become a missionary. He stayed there for more than fifty years living and learning from the local people of the lower castes. The many experiences he related from his days living with the Indian tribes were always ‘informing’.

However, on one recent occasion at the same time that Pope Francis was in South America, he spoke of personal ‘Freedom’, a concept that clearly resonates with me:

In South America this past week, in his home, Pope Francis seemed unbound, liberated to speak his mind.

He seemed, in a word, free. 
 
 
Fr Phil went on:

‘Freedom’ . . . is the hallmark Jesuit virtue.

Not piety, as some might think.

Not scholarship, as others may believe.

But freedom.

The freedom to be who you are,

to say what you believe and, above all,

to proclaim the Good News.