homily on the weekend of July 4 and July 5
I did something this week and again this morning that I have not done in years, probably since high school. I read and reread the Declaration of Independence. I figured since this country had been around for 250 years, it might be good to see what the intent of our ancestors was. “Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.”
We, as the Roman Catholic Church, according to the Gospel and the mandate of the Second Vatican Council, need to advocate for the same things. However, it means, like the founding fathers of this nation, we need to risk everything. In a recent book on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes that I have been reading, the author reminds us that the entire Sermon on the Mount is not pious ideas or an ideal to strive for. It is how we are to be now. The Beatitudes are not about someone else, but what Christians are.
Think about the reasons why the Declaration of Independence was written. Its author wrote all the abuses of the then King of England and how this new nation would be formed on certain ideals. Our ideals as Christians are so much wider than those. We did not elect our God; God choose us. He is a King who rides triumphantly on a donkey, not a beautiful white horse. He willingly embraced suffering and death to destroy their power. Our God does not dominate us; He loves each of us as His own and then tells us to live the same way. We are called to the values of the Kingdom of God; not to the worldly values that disregard the divine mandates.
If we truly are to pursue life, then we need to be a voice for life. We need to respect life in all in stages, from conception to natural death. We live in a state that is making assisted suicide legal, I have sat with many dying people and walked that last journey with them. It is not easy, but I have known the immense love of God in those places. We speak against abortion; we must speak for those at the end of life. To pursue life is also to ensure that our brothers and sisters are respected as people; no matter who they are, what they believe, where they are from, Look at the history of the Catholic Church in this nation. We were discriminated against, mocked, could not get elected to public office easily, etc. It was not until the election of John F Kennedy in 1961 that the attitude began to change.
To pursue happiness is not about money, goods, power, stuff. Our happiness, our joy is in Christ and Him alone. If we want to build the Kingdom, we cannot put our energy into the pursuit of self-gratifications, blind pursuit of power, puffing up our own ego. To build the Kingdom of God is to be filled with Christ and live that way.
To pursue liberty or freedom comes with responsibility. Freedom is not the ability to do what I want and not care about how it affects another. The other day I got a flat tire on my bike because someone thought it was good idea to smash a bottle on the road and leave it there. How many times do we smell pot from the car next to us? I do not care if people use it, but I care if their driving is impaired. Everything I do affects you; everything you do affects me. True freedom is about choosing to live in harmony with all.
So, as we celebrate the 250 anniversaries of this nation, let us, as Roman Catholics, be the seasoning of God’s life, truth, and joy in this nation. May Mary our Mother, under her titles of the Immaculate Conception and Guadalupe, pray for us to be what was envisioned on July 4, 1776.
