August 2, 2006
“Children Freed”
Sometimes one’s eyes still fail to see
The truth that lies in destiny
Though faults, mistakes, may cloud the mind
There’s always hope for one to find
In plain deceit and shallow face
So barred become the winds of grace
Yet ever so may evil stare
Blind love shall conquer all despair
And fleeting souls can travel on
Now free to see with dark fears gone
They’ll dance with sheer emotion born
With happy thoughts and absent scorn
And every time the sun doth rise
They’ll give great thanks through opened eyes
And share the love throughout the sky
Set free to see past lies and fly!
One day in high school I spontaneously wrote this poem in English class, and reflecting on it became an important part of my personal conversion to Christ. The public high school I attended was marked by an atmosphere that was extremely competitive and intense, multicultural and confused in identity. The natural responses to this among the students fluctuated between a certain perfectionistic superiority and a self-deprecating despair. No one was allowed to just “be himself.”
After struggling for several years in my mind and heart with the competing standards of the world and the Kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit led me to recognize the truth: God loves me; the world, the flesh and the devil do not love me; and I am free to choose to live as God’s beloved child!
I pray that you and I, and every person, may receive the precious grace to believe fully in God’s Love for us, to reject all the lies of the Evil One, and to live in the freedom of the children of God (cf. Romans 8:21). May the Spirit of Truth form us more and more each day into the unique person and saint we were created to be, and so enter the Kingdom of Heaven forever! Amen.
Br. Philip Maria Allen, CFR
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