Independence Day 2019

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

Thus did the Declaration of Independence explain why the revolution was necessary. But this was just a beginning for us. No success is ever final, and there are always new challenges for us to face as Americans. Certainly during the Civil War the conscience of our nation's finest leaders recognized that slavery was antithetical to our nation's founding principles. And we continue to be engaged in a great contest, a struggle for the soul of America. 

For the principle that all human persons are created equal remains a stumbling block. It is a truth that that has a transcendent Source; it comes from above. This is what Jesus points to, when he declares in the Gospel that the Father makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust - on everyone always and everywhere. God is the Father of all without distinction. And all of us are therefore equally God's children, entrusted with the provident care of one another, without distinction. 

To attempt a government whose foundational principle is the the equality of all is eminently consistent with God's will. It is to this greatness that God's Spirit continually summons us. This is our unfinished work as Christians, as Americans.

Photograph by Brother Brian. Excerpts from Father Isaac's homily for July Fourth.