Coming to the end of June, many of us are looking ahead to celebrations for the Fourth of July.
Summer is truly underway when we reach Independence Day. We gather with family and friends. We travel, go on adventures, and spend time outside and on the water.
We enjoy cookouts, s’mores, and blueberry and strawberry patriotic desserts. All of this is topped with parades and fireworks.
These celebrations are inspired by gratitude for our country founded on freedom. We have learned from a young age to love our country.
Patriotism has an authentic place in Christian virtue. Our beloved country, the United States of America, continually needs us to be Christian patriots and missionary disciples.
Patriotism
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity” (2239).
Patriotism flows from living out the virtue of charity, wherein as good citizens within our communities, we are called to participate in elections and community events, and care for our local environment.
For some, patriotism leads to greater acts of service, like serving in a political office or in the military. Our Fourth of July celebrations express patriotism and gratitude for freedom and for the blessings we all enjoy in our common home.
Patriotism fits within the order of charity because it is a recognition that we belong to one another. That we have a common homeland — here on earth and in eternity in Heaven — and we will care for one another.
We desire the good for our country by desiring the good for one another.
In the encyclical Sapientiae Christianae, Pope Leo XIII wrote, “To love both countries, that of earth below and that of heaven above, yet in such a mode that the love of our heavenly surpass the love of our earthly home, and that human laws be never set above divine law, is the essential duty of Christians.”
Our secular citizenship is a good that we are called to in the Christian life, but in right order with divine law always held primary.
Discipleship
In order to keep patriotism within the context of charity, we must live daily as disciples of Jesus Christ. A life of discipleship is marked by daily prayer, frequenting the Sacraments, and serving others.
There’s a variety of ways to pray — the Rosary, Scripture meditation, reading the daily Mass readings, spiritual reading.
It involves listening to the words of Scripture or meditation and then being silent of heart to listen to God reveal himself.
If you do not have a habitual daily prayer life, pick something to try, and if it is feeding your soul, stick with it.
Frequenting the Sacraments means a minimum of Sunday Mass and monthly Confession. If you are able, daily Mass and more frequent Confession will continue to bring grace into your life.
Serving others begins in the family and then includes neighbors, friends, and others in need. Putting another person before yourself conforms your heart to be more like Jesus.
We celebrate two American saints in July that exemplify a life of discipleship. On July 1, we celebrate St. Junipero Serra, the Spanish missionary who established missions up and down the West Coast, particularly in California.
Junipero Serra’s life of discipleship began long before he set sail for the Americas. His life of discipleship — daily listening and responding to Jesus — prepared him to leave the country of his birth to serve the people of a new land.
His love for Jesus compelled him to bring Jesus to others. Serra started 21 missions in California to proclaim the Good News of Jesus in the new world. Only the daily disciple is able to leave one’s home to be a missionary.
We do not need to travel to a foreign land to be called to be missionaries. We are called to witness to Jesus in our workplaces, with our neighbors, and with other friends. Before we can be missionaries to those in our circle of influence, we first must form daily habits of discipleship. Only as a disciple will we hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit nudging us to share Jesus with others.
On July 14, we celebrate St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first canonized Native American. Kateri converted to Catholicism at the age of 19. Her decision was unpopular, but this did not hinder her from following the way of discipleship.
Kateri was known for her steadfast devotion, which surely was a witness to those around her. She died just five years after her conversion, at the age of 24.
Jesus calls each one of us at a different stage. Some of us live as disciples for many, many years. Others hear the Lord’s invitation to follow him somewhere in the middle of life and others not long before leaving this earth.
The beginning point does not matter. What is important is to continue on the path, daily walking with Jesus. Perfection is not a requirement to walk this path. The only requirement is to continue along the way through daily prayer, frequent Sacraments, and serving others.
These saints give us a witness of living as disciples so that our patriotism will be rooted and grounded in charity.
Our country was founded on freedom. In the Christian context, this is the freedom to choose the good. This includes choosing the good for one another. We belong to one another and we are grateful for our common homeland.
May our patriotism be rooted in love for others with our feet firmly on our common homeland and our hearts set on heaven.
Sarah Pandl is a member of St. Christopher Parish in Verona. She works for the Evangelical Catholic and loves living in tune with the liturgical calendar of the Church.