It appears America is heading for ruin. Everywhere we look we see the cost of division. Social and political polarization have driven most people into two competing camps, and economic divisions seem to have created two separate countries. Our political institutions, once thought to be sacrosanct, are filled with emotionally driven arguments that make a Congressional hearing look like a scene from a high school cafeteria.
But America didn’t start heading for ruin all of a sudden, nor is this anything new. COVID-19, the 2008 Recession, the 1970s Energy Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Great Depression, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and even the American Revolution—all times when America was brought to the brink of ruin.
And yet, on this Independence Day, we honor the nation that raised us. Our country, like our parents, gives us part of our identity. We see ourselves as sons and daughters of America. We belong to our country and to our communities just as we belong to our families. As if our family were in need, we should resist the temptation to simply disengage from America’s current woes. Furthermore, we should be on guard for the forces that try to sow division among us. The care we show for the country that formed us is part of the virtue of patriotism, which Saint Thomas identified as a form of piety (ST.II-II.Q101.A3.C). Patriotism calls us to give reverence to something that is owed our love and respect, namely to our country.
The object of the love and respect that we ought to show our country ultimately is Almighty God. As Catholics, we believe that God created the heavens and the earth, and sets everything into motion. He arranges all of the stars in the heavens, all the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky. Likewise, he also cares for each one of us and arranges us into different nations. By giving us our country, he keeps us in his providential care. Showing reverence to our country, we give glory to God and fulfill what is written in Psalm 86: “All the nations you have made shall come to bow before you, Lord, and give honor to your name.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen called on Americans to reflect on the eagle, the symbol of the United States. He said that the majestic eagle builds its nest up high in the trees. When it is time for the chicks to leave the nest, the mother nudges the nestlings out, causing them to plummet toward the earth. The mother then swoops down low to push the chick up with her pinions, saving it from death. We read of something similar in Psalm 91 regarding God’s protection of us: “He will shelter you with his pinions, and under his wings you may take refuge.” Sheen continues by saying that the mother eagle helps the chick to get acquainted with flying, and once it does it soars up and up into the sky toward heaven. The same happens to America when it has countless times been brought to the brink of destruction, God in his Providence, has provided his support helping the United States soar, strengthening her through her hardship. This Independence Day, let us give thanks to God, the source of our rights, the source of our freedom, the source of our being, and say “I am proud to be an American.”
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Photo by Johnathan Palmour
