Our celebration of Independence Day is an annual celebration of the founding of our nation.\u00a0 This wonderful land in which we live is founded on the principle of separation of church and state; that is, the government cannot promote any religion or church.\u00a0 At the same time, we know our nation was founded by very religious people, many of whom immigrated here to avoid religious persecution.\u00a0 Some people in our country want to make the separation between church and state even more pronounced, and by so doing actually limit some of our freedoms and rights such as having religious symbols in public places or praying at the beginning of a session of Congress.\u00a0 Since religion means a relationship that “binds” us to God, it is really impossible to have a total separation of Church and state.\u00a0 By the very fact that most people in our country claim to be religious people, religion will inform our decisions and undergird our values.<\/p>\n
The 4th of July is also an annual reminder to us of the privileges, resources, and freedoms we share.\u00a0 These we can never take for granted.\u00a0 We are all familiar with the saying of Jesus, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God” (Mark 12:17).\u00a0 Jesus is clearly acknowledging that we have duties to civil entities and we have duties to God, and they are different.\u00a0 But they are not mutually exclusive.\u00a0 If we do not engage fully with the laws and governance of our nation, we cannot help our country to grow and embrace more fully Gospel values.\u00a0 When there is a conflict between civil laws and freedoms and Gospel values and religious freedom, then we follow our conscience which has been informed by Jesus’ teaching and the Church.\u00a0 Always, we have a responsibility to share the great riches of our nations with those who have so much less.<\/p>\n
This year July 4th falls on a Sunday, so we will not be celebrating the Mass particular for Independence Day. It is always appropriate and our responsibility to pray for our nation and its people.\u00a0 Here is one prayer as an example:<\/p>\n
O God of all nations, you watch over us with great care.
\nProtect us from all evil;
\nhelp us to use wealth and might justly;
\nencourage in us compassion and mercy.
\nMay our nation be strong but caring,
\nesteemed but humble,
\nand prosperous but generous
\nso that we might bring all to enjoy fullness of life.<\/p>\n
We ask this through Christ our Lord.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have a responsibility to share the great riches of our nations with those who have so much less. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,91],"tags":[809,798,61],"class_list":["post-2563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inculturation","category-liturgical-year","tag-independence-day-usa","tag-joyce-ann-zimmerman-cpps","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n