Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.)
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father. (St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.)
Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.) ~all three quotes from Section XVI, Light and Peace (source at end of post)
As I have mentioned on several occasions, I cannot say enough about Light and Peace which was written by Father Carlo Guissepe Quadrupani (b. 1740- d. 1807). Today, I am posting a small excerpt from this book; in particular, from Section XVI on the topic, spiritual liberty:
Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom that excludes fear and uneasiness in regard to all those things which God has not permitted us to know.
It gives us a sweet and tender confidence as to the pardon of our past sins, the present condition of our souls and our eternal destiny.
It reminds us continually that although we have deserved hell, our divine Lord has merited heaven for us, and that it would be doing a great injury to His goodness not to hope for pardon for the past, assistance of divine grace for the present, and salvation after death.
Finally, it teaches us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean of the divine mercy.
This is the Good News of the Gospel in a nutshell. In Catholicism, every day is Christmas. We can celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Christmas, every day. I can hear the objections now, so I will clarify that: not in an exterior manner, as in, setting up a Christmas tree (!), but in an interior manner; as in, always keeping the yes of Mary, and the birth of Christ before our eyes. This is what we do by praying the daily mysteries of the Rosary, or by praying The Angelus, etc; or by simply glancing at a Crucifix.
Catholicism is the religion of hope; and in it, there is spiritual liberty.
Thank you for your writings, Fr. Quadrupani.
•SCF
~ More information on Light and Peace: Fr. Quadrupani was an Italian priest of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (the Barnabites). He wrote Light and Peace based on the teachings of St. Francis de Sales, St. Augustine, and St. Philip Neri. The book is in the public domain so it may be downloaded for free on the internet, listened to (for free) on LibriVox, or purchased on Amazon for a modest fee.
Online: gutenberg.org/ebooks
Audio: librivox.org
Amazon: purchase Light and Peace at Amazon
