Part I: THREE IN ONE

I. Liberty and Fidelity

Present day urban society allows each one to live as they wish or as they can, without being too worried about what others think. The victory of liberty over social constraints, at the same time reveals the difficulty of normal continuity. Liberty is not just the possibility of perpetual choice in frantic options. It is structured in personal consistence which leads to what is traditionally known as fidelity. By contrast with a generation which dreamed of free love, today's youth dreams of fidelity as an impossible ideal. "Fidelity is a fantasy" a student told me: a wonderful fairy tale! The example of those men and women who have remained true to the promises of their youth is consoling, for it shows that it is possible and that it is good.

To persevere in the midst of changes and inevitable deceptions, leads one to a reassessment of life's meaning and to a re interpretation of one's personal history. The archetype of this approach is for me that of the disciples of Emmaus. Disappointed, and on the brink of despair, they are returning home sad and downcast. But the Risen Lord joins them incognito, and bit by bit, unfolds to them the meaning of the trial they have undergone without understanding its significance. This he does in the light of the Scriptures, that is to say, in the light of the human and spiritual experience of believing humanity, synthesised in the Bible. In this book I would like in my turn, to meditate on the present difficulties we encounter in living, hoping and persevering, by allowing myself to be led by the contagious enthusiasm of the Gospel.

I try to follow Christ. I also lose him sometimes. He appears to me under a certain aspect and then escapes me until I find him again the same yet different. My fidelity then cannot be due to some passing thrill, still less to a monotony of repetitions. Rather is it the progressive discovery of the mystery of Life and of the true face of God, ever more beautiful and always beyond our imaginings. In the Temple of Jerusalem once a year and at the call of the high priest pronouncing on this one occasion the forbidden Name, God manifested himself between the wings of the Cherubim spread out on the Ark of the Covenant. Today I have a deep sense of his presence between these two apparently contradictory words: liberty and fidelity, in order that he may reconcile them.

First of all, Liberty, the ability to make choices, to fulfil engagements. What I want to underline is: the freedom to choose, not to abstain from choosing, nor to remain on the sidelines without ever making any commitments. These latter are like Stricter's ass who dies of hunger because he delays too long over two bales of hay! Freedom to choose! To give one's word, to engage oneself!

Then Fidelity, for without habit formation which makes for consistency, without the coherence of actions resulting from the promised word, liberty is a mere weathercock blowing with the wind and bespeaking irresponsibility or instability. Liberty and Fidelity: liberty leading to fidelity, fidelity giving a body to liberty.

Indeed, millions have given their lives to become free, but what is the point of risking my life in bitter combat in order to be able to do my own choosing, if my choices lead to nowhere, if in fact I choose nothing, if I am unable to persevere? What good is liberty without fidelity? Fidelity is the triumph of liberty!

I'll go further: it is only against a background of fidelity that the Word can be spoken. if the promised Word is not respected, every undertaking, every "Yes" is fraught with relativity; they are merely "uttered noises", vain promises and hollow discourse.

This is why our gratitude mounts towards the One who is pure fidelity, the One who keeps his word, the One whose word is given to the point of dying in order to respect it, and who triumphs over the suffering by rising from the dead. He dies in order to prove that his philosophy of love is credible: He is "the" faithful One, source of life and of liberty that knows no bounds! He is my God, the One who inspires me and upholds me, and without whom my life would be unthinkable.

But who is he and how can I envisage him?