Our Beautiful Country – Happy 250th Birthday!

            God bless America, land that I love! We love to sing that patriotic hymn, and we sing it more emphatically and more enthusiastically at this time of the year. We say in the Pledge of Allegiance that the United States of America is one nation, under God. God has always been with us, and our Founding Fathers included mention of a Supreme Being from the very beginning. We are a country that celebrates religious freedom and we welcome people who worship in so many different religious expressions. The freedom of religious practice is one of our greatest blessings! Many countries do not give their people the opportunity. We sometimes take our blessings for granted, so perhaps a special time like this allows us to be cognizant of this special freedom which we enjoy.

            People who are of the Catholic faith had something very special to celebrate this 4^th of July weekend. Our Catholic Bishops have consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At their June meeting, the bishops led the nation in prayer asking Jesus – whom we believe to be God – to touch the hearts of all people with His love and to encourage people to be more God-like in their words and their deeds. We see many people today are egocentric and narcissistic … “me first” or “what’s in it for me?” We have known the type of person who is grounded in a world of entitlement. We are sometimes annoyed by their sense of not caring about others – whether it’s on the road, in the streets, in the stores, or just in the neighborhood.

            Well, what was proposed by the consecration of our nation to God was an intention on the part of the Catholic leaders to try to make people more God-centered and other-centered and less self-centered and self-absorbed. A self-centered person is primarily focused on their own needs, desires, and interests, often at the expense of others. A God-centered person is more focused on how to make others’ burdens lighter, how to lift other people up to a higher level, and how to make this world a better place in which to live.

            Men, women, and children from every land and nation have come to this country to enjoy the peace and freedom offered to us here. Is the USA a totally perfect place? Far from it! As we sing in another favorite patriotic hymn, “God mend thine every flaw!”