Last night in my lecture I mentioned how much what the Holy Father writes in the first part of Deus Caritas Est reminds me of the writings of the late Monsignor Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, who, by the Pope's own admission, "changed my life". In his homily at the funeral of Msgr. Giussani in February 2005, then-Cardinal Ratzinger stated: "Communion and Liberation brings to mind immediately this discovery proper of the modern era, freedom. It also brings to mind St Ambrose’s phrase, 'Ubi fides est libertas.' Cardinal Biffi drew our attention to the near coincidence of this phrase of St Ambrose with the foundation of Communion and Liberation. Focusing on freedom as a gift proper of faith, he also told us that freedom, in order to be true, human freedom, freedom in truth, needs communion. An isolated freedom, a freedom only for the 'I,' would be a lie, and would destroy human communion. In order to be true, and therefore in order to be efficient, freedom needs communion, and not just any kind of communion, but ultimately communion with truth itself, with love itself, with Christ, with the Trinitarian God. Thus is built community that creates freedom and gives joy."
I have also mentioned in some previous posts how much I want to start a CL School of Community. Papa Ratzi himself attends a SOC, you can read more on this written by Rocco Palmo on Whispers in his post The Pope's Saturday "School". For those so inclined, I direct you to the U.S. Communion and Liberation website. Surf around and see for yourself. It is worth a little time.
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