Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Independence Day [USA]
The preface in the Mass for today states that Christ’s message “to live as brothers and sisters . . . took form in the vision of our founding fathers as they fashioned a nation where we might live as one.” So much for the beginning of “One Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
The essential point of this lesson is that the vision “lives on as our task for today and a promise for tomorrow.” How do we make this vision alive today? By being Christ-like, first with our family, those we live with, work with, relax with, and then, those in the communities around us. Finally, our present way of life teaches those who will put into practice the vision tomorrow.
The first reading in our Mass today might help us understand the nature of promises. They are never realized perfectly in this life. Their lack of fulfillment can lead to despair or it can lead to hope. Let us pray for hope.
Resolve: I shall endeavor to make this poem a prayer: “America! America!/ God shed His grace on thee,/ And crown thy good with brotherhood/ From sea to shining sea.” I shall thank the Lord for giving the vision He gave to our founding fathers and ask Him to give each of us the grace to live it out in our personal and political lives, and I shall ask our Blessed Mother pray for our country and its leaders during these crisis days.