freedom and the strength

When you read through our Lord’s life, you find he was proud of his country and proud of his race.  He was proud to be a Jew.  He told people to keep the country’s law.  He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”  It was the same with St. Paul.  He was a Jew of Tarsus.  He was a Roman citizen.  He insisted on the rights of a citizen of Rome.  He loved his rights as all people should when he said to the soldiers who captured him: “Is it legal for you to scourge a Roman, and without a trial”?
 
       All through history people have lived and died for their country, and for their rights in that country.  True patriotism is simply thanking God for your country, and then upholding the rights of all citizens in that country.
 
       How do you feel about our country?  Are you proud of it, or do you take its blessings for granted?  Do you do all you can to make it a better country, or do you just sit back and criticize it and undermine it by your pessimism and lack of cooperation?  When you stop and think about it, we really have so much to thank God for in this country!  Over two hundred years ago good people pledged their very lives, fortunes and sacred honor in the belief that freedom was worth the sacrifice!  As empires, civilizations and nations go we are still very young.  The United States of America is really an experiment to see if people from all over the face of the earth can come and live together in freedom and in peace.  Any experiment is a risk.  There are no guarantees of success, and failure is always close at hand.  However, so far, we have “hung together” and matured a great deal in this country.  
 
       We still have many problems and promises to be realized.  Many of our citizens still need to be brought into the mainstream of participation and contribution.  Our problems can be our possibilities if we continue to dedicate ourselves to the values that inspired the Founders of the Republic.
 
       On this weekend after our 4th of July holiday let us pray that God will continue to shower us with the blessings of freedom and the strength to do justice.  In the depths of our hearts let us truly trust in God, and let us pray to God that it will not be long before all peoples will enjoy the peace, freedom and brotherhood for which our world continues to struggle in these tumultuous times.