For the Kingdom Within the Republic

Matthew Marchand • Jul 03, 2020

Our Nation is enduring a time of trial. It is not the first trial, nor will it be the last. We are enduring a world-wide pandemic while at the same time confronting the nation’s history of slavery and racial division. With the upcoming elections in November, all of the political machines are whirling and it seems like everyone wants to have a string attached to our hearts. Support this, support that, join us, and vote for us. This weekend we celebrate our country, on Independence Day, in the midst of many voices declaring our nation’s brokenness. How can we celebrate a nation that so many call flawed?

Take joy Christians, we belong to both the perfect and to the flawed. We belong to the perfect Kingdom of God and to the flawed governments of earth. We belong to the perfect love of God and to the flawed love of our fellow sojourners. Our own person is broken and flawed, marred by sin and evil, but made perfect in God’s love. When we were made, the Lord declared that we were very good. When our nation was made, its principles were also very good. Just as we have moments of great love and goodness, we have moments of sin and evil; just as we have moments of generosity and caring, we have moments of selfishness and antipathy. If this is the nature of humans, why is it not also the nature of human government?

The United States of America was founded, under God, on the principles of unity, individual freedom (liberty), and justice for all.  These are the principles of the Gospel. The night before Jesus died, he prayed that his disciples might be one (JN 17:20-26), and we can easily see that unity is as essential to the Kingdom of God as it is to our nation; “United we stand.” There is no being that respects individual liberty more than God who granted it to us as a free gift of the human condition. This is why slavery of labor, race, gender, class, intellect, or opinion is so abhorrent to God and should be equally abhorrent to Christian disciples. It was a shame that slavery existed when this nation was founded, but we should not lose sight that this nation had chosen its remedy at great cost and has abolished it once and for all.

We are made to be free, but with that liberty comes responsibility. We are called to use that liberty to love God and our neighbor; that means that we must love of our country as well. Just as we love other people with flaws, we have a duty to instruct the ignorant and admonish the sinner. We have a duty to hold our government accountable, because with liberty there must be justice; which by definition must be equal, fair, and blind. We need to have a system of earthly justice just as there is a system of divine justice. Justice demands that all citizens be held accountable for the improper use of freedom. When we break the law we should rightly be held accountable in this life as we will in the next. However, it is not Gospel justice unless it is accompanied with forgiveness, mercy, and the invitation to redemption. 

The Venerable Fulton Sheen once taught that the Kingdom of God in its human expression, in free countries like the United States, suffers from a regular flaw. The nature of a free people is to want Christ without the cross. It is our capitalist nature to earn so as to have, and have so as to never suffer. We work tirelessly so that our children should never suffer and have more than we had or will have, perpetuating the cycle.  We work tirelessly so that we may not be without something we desire. If we have a need or desire, we demand it be fulfilled at the nearest instant unless we should become unhappy and suffer the lack.  In this pursuit to avoid all suffering we undermine the very freedom we celebrate this weekend. We become slaves to whatever appetites we have, be they physical or psychological. This is the danger of wanting Christ without His cross. To be truly free we must learn to be free from compulsion from without and from within. We must learn the freedom that comes from fasting, self-denial, and yes, the freedom that comes from embracing suffering as an act of love for others.

John F. Kennedy very famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” I wonder if this isn’t a perfect reminder for us on this very unique Independence Day. I wonder if this is not the same as saying “Ask not simply for Christ, ask also for the cross from whence his love out-pours.” We are trained to pay taxes and let the government handle all the problems. However, the Kingdom of God demands that we engage directly, as free citizens, in spreading God’s love on earth and in our country. Perhaps we need to renew and reinvigorate our citizenship to the Kingdom of Heaven by sacrificing pleasures for ourselves in order to more freely and generously give to those in need around us. In doing this, not only would we become model American Citizens, we would also be invigorating our own journey to becoming a saint. In this personal dedication to universal love, we will never be a “Part of the problem,” but will always be a part of the solution.

This independence day, I’d invite all of us to commit to helping our country form a more perfect union as Jesus, Himself, desires unity. Let us commit to doing more than paying taxes to support our country, the poor, education, health, etc, let’s offer the free gift of personal sacrifice to the good of our neighbor and the nation.  If we see that there are those suffering among us, we might ask what suffering we might endure in order to ease the suffering of the other. If we feel that our schools are not enough to educate, can we volunteer to tutor, donate supplies, or even donate tuition for a student in need to attend a better private school. Are there poor immigrants in your town, instead of lamenting that section of town, can you offer them something they need? Teach English classes, start a community center, etc? Let’s not leave our country’s problems to the bureaucracy, let’s make a personal difference. Let’s start in our own city and let the fruit of our labor multiply and flourish to the cities around us. 

As John F. Kennedy also said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The United States and the Kingdom of God are compatible, the more we bring about the Kingdom of God in our neighborhoods, the more we will benefit our Republic and our fellow Americans within it.

God Bless You and Happy Independence Day!

By Tim DeRosa 12 Aug, 2023
Peace be with you! This week we'll be taking a look a Fr. Michael J. McGivney. In the 1800s, Fr. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus. The Knights were founded to create a fraternal unity of men in a parish as well as help provide financial assistance to parish families in need. To this day, the Knights of Columbus continue to serve the community through disaster relief and with their excellenet life insurance policies. Here is a biography about the Knights founder, Blessed Fr. Michael J. McGivney. Michael Joseph McGivney was born on August 12, 1852, the first child of Irish immigrant parents in Waterbury, Connecticut. His parents went on to have 12 other children, half of whom died either as young children or infants due to their harsh living conditions. Michael left school at age 13 to work alongside his father and help support the family, but at age 16 he decided to enter the seminary. He studied in Quebec, Canada as well as in New York until he was called home to help work to support his family once more due to the death of his father. Michael eventually returned to his studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained into the diocese of Hartford, Connecticut in 1877. Fr. McGivney’s first assignment was to St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven. While there, he quickly became very active in the community. Alongside his priestly duties, he served as director of public plays and community fairs. He even volunteered to foster a child whose father had passed away, leaving the boy’s family in poverty and unable to care for him. It was during this time that McGivney envisioned the need for a Catholic mutual aid society. His intention was to create an institution where Catholic men could provide financial security to families in need who had lost their primary breadwinner. At that time in the U.S., Catholics were often discriminated against and denied membership into labor unions as well as being barred from joining the popular fraternal organizations of the day. In some cases, such as with Freemasonry, the Catholic Church forbade their membership. It was plain to see the charitable advantage of these fraternal organizations so, while formulating his plan to start a mutual aid program, Fr. McGivney began to research similar Catholic-founded societies elsewhere in the USA. He researched two organizations which both provided family insurance benefits to members of their churches in need — the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters and the Catholic Benevolent League. Originally, he considered starting a chapter of the Foresters for the men at St. Mary’s but ran into obstacles because their charter didn’t allow for groups outside of their region. As an answer, he decided to form a committee of men at home and, together, they designed an original Catholic fraternal organization that could provide for families in need but also had membership rituals that could compete with the excitement of the other popular secret societies of the time. On February 6, 1882, Fr. McGivney and his men launched the Knights of Columbus. Immediately after its launch, Fr. McGivney started spreading the word to invite men into membership and sent a letter appealing for new members to every priest in the diocese. The order, whose founding principles were charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism, grew rapidly. The Knights appealed to college campuses and, eventually, churches throughout the entire United States. By the early 1900s there were thousands upon thousands of Knights across the U.S. and councils being established worldwide. There are now 16,000+ local councils and over two million members who donate hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of millions of volunteer hours yearly to benefit charities worldwide. Membership is still restricted to practicing Catholic men, although women may participate through the Columbiettes, an auxiliary for Catholic women. Fr. McGivney fell ill with the flu during the 1889 pandemic, contracted tuberculosis, and, subsequently, pneumonia. He passed away at age 38 on August 14 of the next year. He’s remembered by those who knew him as being friendly and cheerful, a champion for the poor, and loyal to and fond of his community. In 2008, Fr. Michael Joseph McGivney was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI. Official Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney Founder of the Knights of Columbus God, our Father, protector of the poor and defender of the widow and orphan, You called Your priest, Blessed Michael McGivney, to be an apostle of Christian family life and to lead the young to the generous service of their neighbor. Through the example of his life and virtue, may we follow your Son, Jesus Christ, more closely, fulfilling his commandment of charity and building up his Body which is the Church. Let the inspiration of Your servant prompt us to greater confidence in Your love so that we may continue his work of caring for the needy and the outcast. We humbly ask that you glorify Blessed Michael McGivney on earth according to the design of Your holy will. Through his intercession, grant the favor I now present. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer Source: https://www.fathermcgivney.org/) © LPi  Totus Tuus! Corpus Christi-St. Bernard's Communications Team
By Tim DeRosa 05 Aug, 2023
Peace be with you! This week the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord. In the story we hear how Peter, James, and John catch a glimpse of Heaven as they see Moses and Elijah before them and hear the voice of the Father. May our hearing this story allow us to see the glimpses of Heaven in our daily lives and spur us to share the message of Christ to the world. Everyday Stewardship There are times in our lives that we get the chance to see a glimpse of heaven. It may be through the love of another, loved one or stranger. Sometimes it may even be an event that seems unexplainable, perhaps even supernatural. These occurrences may be the answer to prayer or they may surprise us by coming out of nowhere. But no matter their nature or origin, they give us hope and strength to carry on through life. When we journey on a pathway of stewardship, we are bound to experience moments of grace where we see even the smallest seeds we planted grow into something amazing. At these moments, we are reminded that God is real and that our stewardship is not in vain. The giving of our gifts and talents is not just a response to God's calling. The giving is one way that God breaks through into the lives of others. As we use what God has given us for his glory, he uses us as instruments of grace to be truly present to others. The greatest example of this occurs at the Mass. Through the hands of an ordained priest taking the gifts of bread and wine, God is really present with us. When we then take Christ into our bodies, we accept the offer to take him into the world to others. The world cannot see Jesus in us with human eyes, but through our works of stewardship, they can see Jesus in us. One could say they even have a chance to see a glimpse of heaven. Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS © Liturgical Publications Totus Tuus! Corpus Christi-St. Bernard's Communications Team 
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