Homily: July 4 2016 - Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord

Yesterday, in the first section of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, there appeared a full page ad, paid for by Hobby Lobby.  You may remember hearing about Hobby Lobby from the news these past few years. Hobby Lobby is an American chain of retail arts and crafts stores. The Christians owners of Hobby Lobby have fought assiduously against certain provisions in the President Obama’s HHR mandate which seemed to violate our first Amendment right of religious liberty.  Hobby Lobby continues to be a strong voice on the national level in communicating the importance of religious liberty and the importance of our nation to take religion seriously.

This full page ad in yesterday’s paper contained a compendium of quotes from the founding Fathers, Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, Supreme Court Rulings, Congress, and even foreigners commenting on the importance of religion and Christianity in America, while affixed to the top of the ad, were the words of the 33rd Psalm: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” How many local business owners would have the courage to place similar ads? For each of us should have the courage to proclaim our faith proudly, and to preach its importance with similar fervor.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” and so many of our founding fathers were men who believed that our nation would succeed or fail to the measure she kept to the precepts of Christianity.  It may surprise the modern American, but Presidents of years past once placed great importance on following and promoting the tenets of the Ten Commandments, Supreme Court Justices ruled in favor of the Bible being read and taught in public schools, as well as looking to the laws of God found in the Holy Scriptures as being foundational for our understanding of civil law.

Our first President, in fact, was a truly pious man.  One of my favorite paintings is of George Washington, having dismounted his horse while on his way to Valley Forge, kneeling in the snow in prayer.  Besides having said that “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible”, the Hobby Lobby ad in the Plain Dealer contained another beautiful quote from our nation’s first president: “It is the duty,” he said, “of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, and to obey his will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”

While many of our compatriots, have lost the religious sense of this day, we gather at the altar today, on this civil celebration of our Nation’s independence, to do just what Washington urged us to do, to gather in gratitude for God’s benefits, firstly, our freedom, and to humbly implore God’s favor and protection.

And as we gather for hotdogs and hamburgers and fireworks today, let us be mindful of the God who grants us such freedom, and who calls us to defend that freedom against our enemies, even from our civil leaders who seeking to amass power for themselves, violate our first liberties.  May each of us be counted as good and faithful stewards of our American liberties, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Please stand for our petitions.  Our petitions this morning are those composed for the inauguration of President George Washington by Archbishop John Carroll, First Roman Catholic bishop in our country whose brother Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through Whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy holy spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of the United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. We pray to the Lord.

Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.

We pray for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they maybe enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.

We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.

And we pray especially for all of our countrymen who have gone before us in faith, for all those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, for all the of the deceased members of our family and friends, and for N., for whom this Mass is offered.