2.3. Relationship as freedom
Another essential dimension of the religious life, visible in the whole rich tradition handed down to us and still capable of arousing interest, is the freedom of the consecrated spirit. It is a quite special kind of freedom, perhaps not visible to the naked eye, or at first sight, because, frankly, it is not always accorded proper testimony; a freedom that lives with what, in human terms, seems its opposite, i.e. a way of life distinguished by a rule, superiors to whom one owes obedience, limited opportunities for self-realization, yet it is a freedom which, in the course of history, has produced surprising and unheard of fruits, as further proof of what God’s freedom can do when it finds someone who is free - free to trust himself to Him.

At the same time, like fraternity, freedom is another subject and ideal that is capable of stirring every human-being; something any young person would be willing to fight for, only to step back when it came to managing that freedom, finding himself having to make decisions on his own, marrying truth with freedom, being free to love and go beyond fear and convention. Let me also say that freedom of the individual begins to become a problem, at least in today’s society, when it comes into contact with the freedom of others - in other words, when relationships come on the scene. But it should not be like that. The formula, much loved by liberals, which states that one person’s freedom ends where other people’s freedom begins, expresses a logic that is purely defensive, that cannot be understood as the ultimate rule for social relationships, because it stops at a perspective whereby one person’s growth is inversely proportional to that of the rest. "In reality, one grows only with and thanks to others. Therefore it should perhaps rather be said that one person’s freedom begins where that of others begins, and ends when it is diminished or denied. Either we are free together, or no one is free. And for the individual, that means carrying the weight of destiny of other human-beings, especially the weakest".

Relationship, therefore, is the place where freedom of the individual is born and expressed, for the very reason that it can never be separated from the next person’s freedom. How necessary it is then, at the present conjuncture or "curve" in the history of religious life, that new vocations have a correct understanding of the meaning of freedom, learn to create freedom in relationships, know how to be free and creative; that they are not content to repeat what has already been said and seen, are not afraid to take risks, and have the courage to blaze new trails...

Perhaps it is worth clarifying the terms.

2.3.1. Truth, freedom and affective freedom
First of all, there is a great freedom that pours forth from what we earlier called the truth of life, as the fundamental relational truth (life is a good received that, by its nature, tends to become a good given); everyone who discovers the invincible logic of this definition, who accepts the inevitability of the connection between good received and good given, gains access to a freedom in terms of belief and on the human plane that to some extent constitutes the fundamental basis, the load-bearing structural component of a real vocational choice of the consecrated life. It is this that, from the psychological viewpoint, we call affective freedom. It consists of two certainties: the certainty of having always been loved in the past and always being loved in the future (= good received), and the certainty of being able and having to love for always (= good given). Already we can note that if the concept of freedom as we examined it earlier is relational, then the concept of affective freedom is even more so.

It therefore becomes indispensable - and a precise criterion for vocation - to help each individual to accept this truth, not as a matter of theory based on abstract analysis, but against the reality of his past and his experience of interpersonal relationships, to confirm and formulate, above all, the historical reality of good received in his own life, from God, but not only from God: one’s own history is "the house of mystery", "it is the sign that God loves me", and helping the person to ‘read’ it is real and proper schooling in faith and vocational promotion.

However, affective freedom means more than that: those who are able to discover the beauty and truth of an ideal, to the point of choosing it as their life’s ideal, recognizing in it their own personal truth, beauty and goodness, are free in their hearts. This somewhat difficult statement embraces all the mystery of religious vocation and the dynamism of the choice as the capacity for relationship, and for relationship with beauty; hence not only, or not firstly, as a call to perfection, possibly understood as... perfectionist, or as a duty of solemn and austere saintliness, but as the freedom to be attracted by something beautiful and fascinating, such that the person is enabled to say some very difficult "Noes" to things which are indeed beautiful and attractive, to human affections which are blessed and comforting, to those earthly prospects man feels himself called to. The esthetic criterion is very important in judging vocations and in essence it is a relational criterion, because it expresses the freedom of the heart, the freedom that stems from truth, from the truth of life, that enables the heart to be moved by what is beautiful and persuades the will to choose that beauty and make it its own,

2.3.2. Signs of a free person
It is good to think of religious vocation as a great sign of freedom in a world (even of young people) which possesses the culture of freedom yet continually risks losing sight of what it means.

I therefore believe that the fundamental symbols of the consecrated life, both as they are and as they ought to be stated (in vocational promotion), witnessed to (by the religious community) and recognized (in judging vocations), are symbols of freedom.

2.3.2.1. The vows as an option for freedom
A young person who wants to join [the vc] certainly cannot have the experience or depth of judgment of a mature religious, but he can and should already have an overview that directs him in a precise manner in his choice and motivation. It is understandable that a young person, child of our not-so-poor, still less chaste and in no way obedient society, might see the vows as something frightening, something he will not be able to cope with, something oppressive. But he must also perceive in them the space for self-realization that opens up before him in the area of relational and affective life, attitudes to material possessions, the possibility of being part of plans which are far greater than his own interests.

"Religious vows are an extraordinary route to personalizing relationships, space and time. (...) Personalizing things, objects, space, time, means putting creation back on the track of the love which is incised within it (...) the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are paths that lead to the truth of love... For example, it is certainly easier to live in poverty by not having things, by giving them up, but perhaps today it is more important to treat things so that they are at the service of love and part of healthy interpersonal relationships. Perhaps today it is more important for the world to rediscover that creation belongs to God and offer it up to Him through deeds of love towards our fellow-men". That is why a young person who enters [the vc] in this frame of mind approaches the vows, not from the starting point of renouncing the world or mild contempt for creation, but - quite the contrary - against the background that by freeing himself from the worry of having to ‘win’, or gain possessions, the affection of others, his own life, he will become increasingly spiritual, i.e. able to recognize the essential beauty of things and to find in them the presence of the Creator. "Our eyes look at the world, our hands touch the gift of creation, our palate tastes its flavors, whilst our heart glorifies the Creator and renders thanks to the Giver who loves man. Religious live in the midst of this world as if it were a great, universal liturgy, and therein lies its beauty. (...) When they look at things, they hear their stories, the song of creation. Spiritual beauty is living in a world that talks of God, that remembers Him, even if it is done through pain, drama or death as, moreover, once took place in the passion of the Lord".

Certainly we cannot expect a young person who wants to join us to have this kind of spiritual maturity. What we can ask for, at least if we want to improve the quality of our lives and our testimony, is a certain readiness to perceive and ‘taste’ beauty and to act in the freedom of the Spirit. On one hand, "a religious life that does not succeed in creating this liturgy of beauty is always at risk of losing its direction"; on the other, hell has never appealed to anyone and someone who was attracted by it would certainly be lacking in mental and spiritual health! Therefore, anyone who sees and interprets the step of consecration as nothing more than an onerous and difficult renunciation shows that he is not really prepared; he does not transmit the attraction of God’s gift. Beware therefore of "sad observants", wet blankets who seem impervious to joy and end up making those around them sad too, negating the value of any vocational promotion.

2.3.2.2. The mission as daring to take risks
Another very useful factor in judging [vocation] is to consider the relationship between the present self (= what the individual is and what he knows he can do now) and the ideal self (= what he himself would like to be, but is not yet able to achieve); genuine vocation to the consecrated life is a decision based on a certain disproportion between the two structural elements of self. Therefore, you would do well to choose not the person who measures the ideal against his current capacities, taking care not to opt for something that demands more than what is possible for him, but the person who - on the contrary - displays a certain amount of detachment in thinking about his future, able to choose something he is not absolutely sure he can do, something that is bigger and higher, divine not just human, something he would never have chosen if he himself had not been chosen by the Eternal, something impossible for his strength alone. In short, a person called to consecration does not go to the psychologist for attitude testing, does not ask for watertight guarantees, does not bet on the safe side, is not afraid to stride out, does not demand every assurance... there is an element of healthy insanity in this choice. In today’s culture of efficiency and forward planning (where everything must be calculated, prepared, predicted... and everyone must have the right abilities and be in the right place), this touch of madness is becoming increasingly rare. Instead, it is replaced by an excessive and unnecessary "wisdom" or the blindness of those who think only of themselves and their own financial situation. And yet it is the guarantee not only of a healthy vocation, but also of the renewal of our religious institutions...

2.3.2.3. The sequela as an expression of love’s imagination
In our present technological society, every choice seems to proceed from cold calculation, from foreseeing that an account will bring interest, from the realization of one’s abilities, from gaining one’s own interests. Choosing to consecrate oneself to God is pointless, it has no practical aims, it is a life that is wasted, sexually unproductive, a useless renunciation. In the current progressive neglect of feelings and all that is most intensely human, the choice of the religious life presents itself as something really different and unconventional. It becomes the retrieval of humanness and the essential freedom of the Augustinian "love and do as you will", or - to use a more modern expression - it is letting ourselves "go where the heart takes us". Let us be clear, there is a whole transformation underlying this freedom, which is quite different from emotive spontaneity and natural instinct, but it is in any case indispensable that the young person should show this freedom to act because he is impelled within himself by the fascination of something or someone that is making itself more and more central to his life. He may not at once be able to recognize his feelings or understand what they mean or why he has them, but that is love, it is the gift of the Spirit. And just as the Spirit is the most fantastic and most tranquil imagining of God, so the love which comes from Him or that He has instilled in the heart of the young person becomes an expression of the imagination, the courage to follow Christ along unknown roads, to obey a rule that fixes the destination and sets the pace for his fellow travelers, and at the same time it becomes the exuberance of a heart that is learning to beat in time with the Eternal.

It is these vocations and this expression of love’s imagination that are needed by the consecrated life today!

(Original text written in Italian)