Tomorrow morning, Thursday, July 3, at 8:20 am eastern, I will be on Morning Air to discuss what the Church and some of our saints say about patriotism. Spoiler alert: it’s good! Love of country stems from a sort of filial love, and has even been called a duty by some of our greatest saints. The catechism has some things to say, too. Find out how to listen here. I hope we get some callers to discuss.
In thinking about this topic, I was reminded of the age-old wisdom that freedom and truth are inextricable. So to be truly free, one must be so in the truth. You cannot live a lie, say, about your identity, and be truly free. Also, that true freedom is not about the freedom to do what we want, but what we ought (that is a JPII classic and will definitely figure into the conversation tomorrow). Americans (I’m one) tend to get it slightly wrong, that freedom means freedom from everything - regulations, taxes, rules, morals, even objective truth. But nay! This is the path to sadness and disappointment. Far better to see freedom for what it is, a gift from God, which must be exercised in the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness. It’s somewhat abstract stuff, but on a deep soul level - or a common sense level - it makes sense. I mean, who wants absolute freedom, anyway? Like imagine if a dad wanted freedom from his family, whom he loves? Would he be happy to be without the “burden” of caring for them? Of course not. If you were free to do every drug on the planet, would you be happy? No. And really, in either case, you’re not free, you’re a slave to your own desires, passions, or selfishness. Freedom is not about selfishness. It also doesn’t impinge on someone else’s freedoms, either.
I doubt we will get into all that tomorrow - really just going for a “how should Catholics think about Independence Day” kind of discussion. One other bottom line is: bring prayer to your 4th of July celebrations. Refine has a good article about this, focusing on one of my favorite founding fathers, John Adams.
See you tomorrow!
