Truth will set us free

Truth will set us free
Throughout the world, there is a mentality that is gaining broad appeal. This is the thought that an end can justify the means and is legitimate if it promises happiness. However, a means can never be justified even if the ends are sublime.
The way out of this situation is by remaining united to the Author of all things, so that through the exercise of our free will we may render or deny unto him the greatness that is his and build upon the chiaroscuro that is free will.
Humanity has lost the joy of living because it opposes giving up liberty. On the other hand, the truth that swirls around free will like a song is that it will make us free because liberty achieves its true meaning when it is in the service of the truth.
We are either children of God or prisoners of overbearing pride and eroticism – that tormented narcissism to which so many mortals find themselves bound.
Liberty is accompanied by a great responsibility that is a lifelong guide. Man without liberty is like “clouds without rain taken from here to there by the wind, trees without autumn fruit – dead twice, without roots.” Where there is no personal intimacy with the Deity, there is a void within. In that black abyss, everything becomes oppressive.
Augustine of Hippo wrote a marvelous ode to liberty, saying “God created you without you, but He will not justify you without you." It is there that a hymn to liberty emerges.
Free will and the gift of self do not cancel each other out: they act reciprocally to preserve each other. Freedom can only be given after being shot with the dart of love. A freedom that is an end to itself, without a normative goal or commitment, is merely libertinism. I love because I am free and because I am willing to give the gift of my will: it is for these reasons that I have chosen God.
Liberty achieves its significance when it is used in the service of the truth. St. John affirmed that “only the truth will set you free.”
“Oh, liberty, delight of my existence! Without you work is torture and life is prolonged death,” said Proudhon.

Author and journalist Clemente Ferrer has led a distinguished career in Spain in the fields of publicity and press relations. He is currently President of the European Institute of Marketing, Communications, and Publicity.
clementeferrer@yahoo.es