On Freedom

I love America! This is my adopted country; I call it home. And so I pray fervently for her to return to her roots. I didn't appreciate the Constitution to the degree I do now when I became a naturalized American citizen at the age of 19. It's a lot like being married. I didn't fully appreciate what it was but the longer Michael and I are married, the more deeply we are in love with one another. And so it is with these great United States, even though the country is moving towards a self-destructive path. We aren't free; we are enslaved in sin. The measure of the greatness comes from how well a society cares for the least -- the young, the old, the infirm, the poor.

We are failing miserably. What kind of freedom is this where we kill our babies and we kill our elderly instead of walking with them through their suffering? Lord knows I've wanted to die a hundred times because of pain I cannot bear. It would be the easy thing to do. But not courageous. Courage is living with pain, doing your duty, loving. But in our weak moments we need others who can stand by us and defend us. Not kill us. 

Every successful society is governed by laws that evoke a Creator. Our moral code is based upon a Judeo-Christian understanding of life. But increasingly, people are departing from it. We are our own gods. The self is the highest good. Descartes "I think therefore I am" has been taken to absurd heights with no basis in reality. Moral relativism is all the rage. People think there is no absolute truth, just mine and yours and his and hers. But there is a thing as objective reality and we ignore it.

Will God bless America? Or will He chastise us for not living by His precepts, for spitting in His face? We see over and over how the Jewish people were punished when they followed false gods. Reading Monsignor Pope's reflection on the prophet Amos was sobering. He writes, "Amos reminds us that our sins and injustices cannot go on forever. God hears the cries of the poor, the aborted, the victims of the sexual revolution, the children who suffer from their parents’ misbehavior, those who suffer on account of our greed, and many others.

I am not able to see the future in detail, but it is biblically and historically true that indulged evil and sin cannot last. They carry the seeds of destruction because they are rooted in selfishness. And selfishness does not build families, nations, or cultures. While evil has its day, it also has its end, which is destruction."

It is time to repent and turn to the Lord. He is merciful and just. And let us mean when we sing America the Beautiful: America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw. Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.  Mary, pray for us. Help us to choose our leaders wisely, those who will uphold life and true liberty.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day!