It is an inalienable right which all persons must respect and defend. It is an attitude, a power which we have to think, speak, act, love and serve. However, this freedom is fragile. We know it can be used unreasonably and unintelligently.

Let us recall that freedom is twofold:
Psychological freedom, also known as free will, is the ability we have to decide and choose. This ability is a birth right and only requires “guidance and education”.We are not born free, we become free.

Spiritual freedom, or interior freedom which we call the “freedom of the children of God.” For us baptized Christians, we are not born with it, but it is acquired in Jesus Christ.

To have a better understanding, Father J. Thomas, s.j.states:
“With and in Christ we have the possibility of daring, and living our freedom with assurance. Called to be free (Ga. 5,13, To be truly free Christ has called us by love to serve one another.”

Therefore, as Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, to what freedom are we referring ?

Certainly, like all human beings, we do not deny psychological freedom but rather adopt it. However, at a deeper level, we are called to enter into the liberty of the children of God which is based on LOVE: Love of God, love of self, our brothers and sisters and humanity.

THE WAY? Follow Jesus who has made us free by the ultimate offering of his life to his Father  out of Love. Yes, indeed the freedom of Jesus was based on his intimate relationship with his Father. Having become children of God, we are called to live this same freedom, that to which our Founders refer:
“The spirit of this family is that of the Holy liberty of the children of God.”

In a world replete with false freedoms, we are called to announce to the world with conviction, by our everyday life and by our commitment to serve the poorest, the most disadvantaged, that it is in God alone that we find freedom which leads us to the love which unites and frees.