Faith. Freedom. These words are not used thoughtlessly or carelessly at the Acton Institute. The 25th anniversary of the Acton Institute is a good time to reflect on these ideals, especially as they relate to our Faith & Freedom Award. Faith illuminates the road—our lives—before us. We are free to journey anywhere. Isn’t the freedom of the open road a quintessential American tableau? It’s us in a sharp-looking, sunlit convertible with music blasting and wind in our hair. The world is ours! Freedom!

But we must also ask what freedom is, because without knowing the parameters of freedom, we can drive off a cliff.

I am reminded of the classic novel Les Miserables. One character, Jean Valjean, is basically a good man who was imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his family. Valjean attempts to escape many times but remains imprisoned for 20 years, ultimately allowing his suffering to take the faith and light of his soul, which are then replaced with bitterness and anger.

Upon his long-awaited release, a bishop hosts Valjean for dinner, and Valjean promptly steals the man’s silver. He is caught, and when police officers bring him and the missing silver back to the bishop for identification, the bishop says the silver was a gift from him to Valjean. The confused Valjean stands before this man, who easily could have sent him back to jail, but instead colluded with Valjean to fool the police. Why?

The bishop: “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

Our freedom means we belong to good, to God. Our free will is his gift to us, and our use of that gift—in goodness— is our gift to him.

Over a decade ago, we established the Faith & Freedom Award to celebrate Acton’s 10th anniversary. We wanted to honor Lord Acton’s understanding of the societal need for both faith and freedom, and to underscore that neither faith nor freedom are obsolete or outmoded. We have awarded it to eight individuals who, through outstanding leadership in civic, business or religious life, have modeled faith and freedom most excellently. These men and women (Sir John Templeton, Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, Rocco Buttiglione, Chuck Colson, Mart Laar, William F. Buckley Jr., Rich DeVos Sr. and Lady Margaret Thatcher) are not perfect. Later this year, we will honor Diet Eman, a member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. We could argue over the virtues of each of these people. Some shouldered enormous criticism regarding their running of nations or corporations. But they all acted in a profound and real way to remain timeless champions of liberty, virtue, faith and freedom.

What each of these people understood, what Victor Hugo understood and what we must understand is that faith and freedom are cherished and inestimable gifts. They offer us illumination to see and know truth and the ability to carry out that truth in our daily lives. Faith and freedom mean “we belong to good, to God.” May this vision of faith and freedom form all our lives.

Rev. Robert A. Sirico is president and cofounder of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.