7/4/2016 – Fourth of July – Independence Day Mass – Matthew 5:1-12a

      Back in 2012, our US Bishops felt the need to respond to the way that our Catholic faith was being threatened by various governmental actions, so it issued a statement entitled: “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.”  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops declared a Fortnight for Freedom that year, 14 days of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action that emphasizes both our Christian and American heritage of liberty.  The Fortnight for Freedom begins each year with the vigil mass for St John Fisher and St Thomas More, two martyrs who died for their Catholic faith under the reign of Henry VIII in England in the 16^th century.  The Fortnight for Freedom ends today on our nation’s Independence Day.  This is the fifth year in a row that our Catholic Church recognizes the Fortnight for Freedom, so it has become an annual tradition in our Church.  With the continued actions by our government, our bishops feel the need to recognize the Fortnight for Freedom each year.  Our bishops assert that religious freedom “is the first freedom because if we are not free in our conscience and our practice of religion, all other freedoms are fragile.”   They highlighted George Washington’s own words that “the establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive that induced me to the field of battle.”  That first year of 2012 that we celebrated the Fortnight for Freedom, when I was serving as pastor in the parishes in Yazoo City, we celebrated a prayer service with the various churches in the ministerial association in that city.  At the end of the prayer service, one of the Protestant pastors stated that he wanted to thank the Catholic Church and our Catholic leaders for being so courageous and honest in speaking out on the topic of religious freedom being under attack in our society – he said that many other non-Catholic Christians are behind our Catholic leaders 100% and are grateful for the way we are speaking out on those issues. 

        As we think about the 4^th of July today, we hear the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel.  We might wonder why we have such a Gospel reading today.  Jesus knew that his followers would face many trials and tribulations on their journeys, so he preached the Beatitudes to them to show them that they could take up their crosses and unite them to his.  Our secular world teaches that happiness and fulfillment come from material wealth, fame, accolades, and worldly success.  This can lead us to egoism, vanity, greed, self-centeredness, and avarice, and away from the values of Christ’s Gospel.   Through the beatitudes we are called to reliance on God and on the values of our faith: to Gospel simplicity, self-sacrifice, solidarity, charity, and humility.  Many of the saints and our founding fathers and mothers possessed the same attributes that Christ proclaims in the Beatitudes today. 

      Today we celebrate our country and the values that we stand for as Americans – justice, opportunity, religious freedom, and altruism.  We pray for our country on our Independence Day.  We pray that God lead us and guide us in our upcoming national elections.  And we pray for all those who help protect our freedom and liberty every day – the men and women in the military, in law enforcement, first responders, and public servants.  We pray for their safety and their continued service to our nation.