4 July 1987
Rome, Italy

My dear Sisters,

Today you celebrate Independence Day in your country. As a nation you have been celebrating it now for more than two hundred years. Independence is more in the air today than it was in 1776. Only yesterday I was reading an article in which it was stated that at the present time there are more than one hundred seventy official heads of States. In 1776 there would not have been that number. There is in the world today a great movement towards independence. Nations want to be independent and, even within nations, groups of people and regions want to be independent of central authority.

In the Church, too, one can note a movement towards greater independence. One could say that after Vatican II more autonomy was granted to the local Church. We have spoken much about decentralization in the past twenty years. Within religious Orders and Congregations also independence has been in the air. If we want proof of that, we have it in our Constitutions and in the recognition of the value of consultation in our Communities.

However much we in Community may talk about independence, it is very important that we relate it to Jesus Christ. If movements to greater freedom and independence in Communities are not rooted in Jesus Christ, some strange aberrations will appear. Jesus Christ Himself was passionately interested in independence. As an Israelite, the greatest feast in the year would have been the celebration of the Passover, which was the celebration of independence gained by the Israelite people from the Egyptians. It was during a meal celebrating independence that Our Lord left us His greatest gift, the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Eucharist. It was during that meal that He announced the winning of a new independence for those who believed in Him. The Sacrifice of the Cross was a war of independence. It was on Calvary that He overcame those mysterious forces of darkness which the human race has been battling since its original fall. They are the forces of greed, of pride, of lust, of anger, of gluttony, of envy, of sloth. In our catechisms we called them the seven deadly sins. Christ conquered them, but they still wage a sort of guerilla warfare in each one of us. We do well to recognize their presence within us, while, at the same time, we are confident that Christ has won the war for us, even if we have some battles yet to fight. Christ has won the war of independence for us and we are, to use a phrase from St. Paul, "alive with the life that looks towards God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11).

The difference between a mature Christian and an immature one, between sanctity and mediocrity, is the ability to understand the true meaning of the independence won for us by Christ by His Cross and Resurrection. In the living of our lives we have constantly to choose between a true and a false independence. Our vows are weapons for securing independence or freedom with which Christ wants to make us free. Our vows are certainly restricting, but they are also liberating. If we wish to experience the liberating effects of our vows, we must first experience their restrictions. Live your vow of poverty with Christ and you will be free. Live your vow of chastity with Christ and you will be free. Live your vow of obedience--and this, perhaps, is the greatest paradox of all--and you will be free. What I have been saying stems from that great principle which Jesus Christ gave to His followers: "Whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will save it." (Mt 16:25).