In Umbris Sancti Petri

I apologize for the extended dive into the murky waters of 'freedom' theories. Although it is an eminently important question, it is nevertheless not the only one. I submit, however, one final glimpse into the nature of freedom and its integral place in the human experience:

A requiem Mass was celebrated on Monday for Thomas S. Vander Woude, a former athletic director at Christendom College who died saving his Down Syndrome son who had fallen into a septic tank.

Last week the 66-year-old’s youngest son Joseph, 20, had fallen into a septic tank at Vander Woude’s home in Prince William County. According to the Washington Post, his father jumped into the sewage-filled tank to help his son keep his head above the fouled water while Vander Woude’s wife Mary Ellen and a workman called emergency rescue workers and tried to help.

When he and his son were rescued from the tank, Vander Woude was unconscious. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

His son Joseph was hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery. (cf. CNA)

Oddly enough, freedom seems to surface in the most inhospitable of circumstances; when we can't get a grip on it in the clear, all we need do is turn to the frailty of human nature and, without a doubt, we encounter it.

"Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith." (1 Col. 1:20)