With gratitude to Father Richard Rohr for the following thought provoking words of wisdom:

We must rediscover the gift of free will.  I think its loss is at the bottom of the deconstruction of our society.  It is at the bottom of our cynicism.  Mature conscience only develops inside of free will, even the freedom to make mistakes and then take responsibility for them – from which we all grow.

Grace and freedom are totally correlative terms.  You cannot have one without the other.  Grace creates deep inner freedom and our very freedom to fail becomes another deep experience of grace, mercy, and acceptance.

From Richard’s daily Meditations for July 8, 2011.  I recommend that everyone subscribe to this wonderful series of daily meditations – visit http://cacradicalgrace.org – you will be glad you did.