Happy 4th of July weekend to you all. I want to welcome in a special way any
visitors, family and friends who have joined us for Mass this morning.
I
would also like to say thank you to our men and women who have served in the
armed forces over the years. This
holiday for our country would not be possible without your dedicated support to
keep us safe and free.
Like
many of you, I have some special traditions to celebrate our nation’s
birthday. Over the past ten years
I have visited my friends’ cabin (my brothers are both married and split
holidays with their in-laws so I figure I get one holiday a year with
friends!) It has everything a
summer holiday needs: lake, fishing, road race, great food and company. Over the years I have seen several of
my friends there start dating, get engaged, get married and now have children
of their own.
As I was at the cabin on Thursday
evening, I reflected on why we celebrate this holiday. I was inspired to revisit some
documents that I honestly haven’t read since high school civics class—The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights.
One of the most famous quotes reminded me of why we celebrate our
nations’ birth: “We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration).
As a Catholic we
should thank God for the gifts he has given us in the United States of America. We are able to celebrate Mass publicly
and profess our Christian faith.
Other Christians around the world are not so fortunate. We have the right to speech, assemble
and so forth. We get to vote and
decide our nation’s future. And
above all of this, what we take for granted in things like food, clean water,
housing and vehicles, most of the world doesn’t have.
It is good to be
patriotic, thanking God for the gifts He has given to the United States of
America.
At the same time,
we must honestly assess the weaknesses of our country. It isn’t unpatriotic to point out areas
in which our country needs to grow.
I found it interesting that our forefathers stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”
when common sense and what should be self-evident (like marriage, sanctity of
life, etc.) often is not today.
This philosophy of relativism (what is true for you is true for you,
what is true for me is true for me) has sparked a sharp polarization of our country
into two political parties, neither of which fully embodies our Catholic faith. (Try preaching some time in this
climate!) Finally, materialism
often goes unchecked and we are known throughout the world as greedy.
I was speaking to
my friend Fr. Drew about Mass this weekend. He pointed out, “Isn’t it interesting that on our nation’s
big day we get readings on humility?”
I agree. In His providence,
God has given us readings today to help us in the United States of America
navigate following Christ in our own country.
I believe this
requires three principles. First,
our true home is not of this world and our true King is not of this
kingdom. Ours is a world of power,
money and excess. Yet, “See, your king shall come to you; a
just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass…” Long after the United States of America
(and even the planet) fizzle away, Jesus’ eternal Kingdom will still be
around. Second, our Christian
faith must guide our country. This
is what the founding fathers did and what they set out to do! Finally, we must pray for our country,
especially that it may remain grounded on God. Jesus invites the United States: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for
I am meek and humble of heart; and
you will find rest for yourselves. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden light…”
Yet our country cannot take
up Christ’s yoke once more unless we as individuals do. As we celebrate our nations’ birthday,
may we be good patriots and better Catholics to advance God’s kingdom in the USA.
No comments:
Post a Comment