Homily for Independence Day

Homily for Independence Day

July 4, 2024
Proper Texts
Col 3: 12-17
Matt 25: 31-46
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Declaration of Independence (John Trumbull)
(U.S. Capitol)

Writing to his wife Abigail, John Adams predicted that Americans would celebrate the day in perpetuity:

as the great Anniversary Festival.  It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever.[1]

He was half right, because he was writing of July 2, the day on which the Second Continental Congress voted independence.  The cut-and-dried resolution of July 2, tho, was fleshed out and given immortal voice by Jefferson’s verbal, philosophical justification for it, the Declaration adopted on July 4 after much debate and amendment (see 1776), tho not signed till a month later and beyond.

There’s an old saying that God looks after orphans, drunks, and the U.S.A.  No one’s sure of its origin.  Perhaps it sounds cynical.  But believers certainly may see God’s Providence in our history from colonial times—not only in the unlikely survival of Jamestown, Plymouth, and St. Augustine but also in consideration of various failures like North Carolina’s Lost Colony and the Pueblo uprising in New Mexico—thru our Revolutionary War, which in military calculation we had no business winning, thru Civil War and all the turmoil that you and I have lived thru:  the Cold War, the 60s, astronomical gasoline prices, Covid, etc.

St. Paul addresses the Colossians, a community that he never visited, as far as we know, as “God’s chosen ones” (3:12).  Americans tend to think of themselves, too, as God’s chosen ones.  Rather arrogantly, we proclaimed our “manifest destiny” to rule North America and serve as models of freedom and prosperity for the whole world.

Jesus tells us that much is expected of those to whom much is given (Luke 12:48).  Our liturgy today lays out our task:  “that, under your providence, our country may share your blessings with all the peoples of the earth” (Collect).  We’re to “be instruments of [divine] peace.”  In our tumultuous world, that’s our mission as a free and prosperous people.

Moreover, if we come at the mission as followers of Christ, “as God’s chosen ones,” then we are challenged, in Paul’s words, to be compassionate, humble, gentle, and patient (3:12) in our gratitude to God and our sharing of our blessings so that both our nation and the nations of the world might enjoy “the vision of our founding fathers” (Preface) and live as one family of God’s children.

Today’s gospel commands us to practice social justice, that best-kept secret of Catholic doctrine, at least individually.  Really, it’s a national command.  As Paul VI said, “If you want peace, work for justice.”[2]  So our nation welcomes refugees, “huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the homeless [and] tempest-tost,”[3] or ought to; and strives for just peace and protects the vulnerable around the world, or ought to; and is the quickest and most generous people in responding to natural disasters anywhere.  We don’t hoard our prosperity, altho “America Firsters” wish to, but multiply it by sharing it.  “May those who love you prosper!” says the Psalmist (122:6).  May we all prosper because God guides us and helps us to achieve what still remains to be done (Collect) in our nation and for all nations.

 

 

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[1] Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, “Had a Declaration...” [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

[2] Message for World Day of Peace, 1972.

[3] Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus.”