The Radical Catholic

I lived all of my life believing that I knew what was best for me. I thought I was a free human being, make free choices about my life. I was wrong. From the moment, I was born, I was influenced by so many people within the family and outside of it. I was never truly making a “free” choice. My choices were conditioned.

Even though much of the conditioning in my life was well-intentioned, it was ill-informed. All people are fallible to some extent because of their conditioning. And so it goes backward every generation until the beginning of humanity.

I have experienced only one source of Truth from which I can make a free choice. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Turning to the triune God first and foremost to give thanks and seek counsel is the most free I have ever felt. No longer am I bound by conflicting ideas and desires. I offer my whole life to God in gratitude and trust. In return, worry and fear vanish and peace and joy emerge.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, who founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus, offers a clear and moving prayer to commit yourself to God and receive the ultimate freedom any human being can know.

“Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my whole will, all that I have and all that I possess. You gave it all to me, Lord; I give it all back to you. Do with it as you will, according to your good pleasure. Give me your love and your grace; for with this I have all that I need.”