The Precious Gift of Freedom.

Sharon Mollerus of Clairity's Place has returned from Rimini. She had attended the CL Conference there. Just from some of the people she quoted, all I can say is, "Whoa!"

The theme of the meeting was: "Freedom is the most precious gift that heaven has bestowed upon men." And my first impression at the meeting is of encountering a free people. A free people is characterized by joy and an "impossible serenity," palpable among the crowds of some half-million individuals who visited during the week.

Julian Carron, the leader of the CL movement, reminded us that we have lost the meaning and even the desire for freedom. In our current mentality, we think that freedom is the ability to escape from the bonds that are fundamental to communal life: marriage, family, friendship.

This 26th year of the movement has seen a steady increase in numbers and exhibits. A free people generates new life with everything they touch. These individuals, couples, priests and consecrated lay people, acknowledge Christ as the meaning of their life, making them free for life, rather than living in fear and escaping into the enslavement of materialism and nihilism.

What they generate is simply amazing. Art, poetry, music, history, education. A proliferation of charitable enterprises both local and missionary. Within a solidarity with others, they lighten the loads of work, handicap, illness, poverty. They build a culture that lifts the spirit and accompanies one through the years of journey to destiny.

Should this Fool begin to consider membership in Communion and Liberation? Ah, the movements of the Spirit, so mysterious and yet so right! I would not have heard of CL were it not for the internet. I would have no idea what it was like were it not for Clarity's Place.

Go read the whole thing. Thank me later.