July 5, 2004: Independence Day

Independence Day 2004
July 5, 2004

We gather on this morning to celebrate the 228th anniversary of our nation’s independence. It’s good to pause for a moment to consider the blessings and challenges that independence has gained us.

We are so blessed that I think many, if not most, of us take independence and our abundant personal freedoms for granted. It’s something like the air we breathe. It’s just there… and it’s there in vast and endless supply.

Yet this is not the case in every part of the world. Not by a long shot. If you’ve followed the Middle East war news even casually, you know that our fellow human beings in that part of the globe don’t enjoy the same freedoms that we do. It’s the same in China… Vietnam… Korea… many places in Africa… and other places as well.

America, thanks be to God, has been the land of opportunity, of freedom, of hope. We all come from immigrant stock. Maybe you’ve heard the family stories of your forebears journeying across the ocean… arriving in Ellis Island… and maybe even grasping the idea of true freedom for the very first time.

The promise of freedom goes hand in hand with hope. Imagine! You can do or be anything you want. These seeds of hope and better times are the fuel that have driven folks forward and upward. Those freedom fighters who were our Founding Fathers were imbued with this spirit. Their dreams, their tenacity, and even their blood won for us the gift we call America—the gift that is our home.

But with all these enormous blessings and gifts come dangers—dangers that we Americans face today.

One big danger is complacency. History offers almost endless examples of wonderful and advanced civilizations and cultures that once thrived but then crumbled: ancient Greece, the Aztecs, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, ancient China, the Mayans, the Roman Empire, even the British Empire in more recent times. Our country is still a baby—just 228 years old—but look at the signs of apathy and decadence that abound!

Another danger that threatens us is our selfishness. Just a couple of months ago, in the weeks following Easter, we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the growth of the fledgling church. People came together big time. They sold their property and brought the proceeds to the church so everyone could share. There was love and unity.

But look at us! We hoard our possessions, because I’ve got to have that new SUV or Rolex or DVD burner or large-screen plasma TV. And while we enjoy these wonderful toys, our brothers and sisters can’t afford food or medical care. We teach our kids that some people are more valuable than others, so it’s OK to abort unwanted babies or put old folks out of their misery for the good of everyone else. We teach our kids that truth is relative and we should follow majority rule rather than the will of God which may be unpleasant or too demanding. God sees it as a terrible injustice when we refuse to help our brother or are simply blind to his needs—physical and spiritual.

You see, many of us have forgotten that freedom and liberty necessarily mean that we have responsibility: responsibility first of all to the natural law and to the will of God. In concrete terms, this responsibility means speaking and living the truth, even when it seems to go against our own enjoyment or self interest…loving our enemies and doing good even to those who hate us…giving aid to everyone in need, particularly the least of our brethren.

Those are the ideals on which this great nation was conceived and founded. And because we tried to live them, we have been blessed indeed.

May we all pause today to consider our vast blessings… to thank God for them… and to resolve to turn over a new leaf in living out the responsibilities that our freedom engenders.

Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day. God bless you—and God bless America!