[In the Dioceses of the United States]
594A
From Masses
for Various needs and Occasions, II. For Civil Needs: 13. For the Nation, nos.
882-886, or 14.
For Peace and Justice, nos. 887-891
 |
| “Declaration of Independence” (detail) by John Trumbull, 1819 |
Readings and Commentary: [1]
(Note: since there is no approved “proper” for Independence Day, the texts below have been selected by the author.)[2]
Reading 1: 9. Isaiah 58:6-11(From #882, 13. For the Nation )
Thus says the LORD:
This is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
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Commentary on Is 58:6-11
This passage is from what is known as Deutero-Isaiah. It was written in the latter part of the Babylonian exile (700 BC). Isaiah laments and chastises the people for missing the point of their fasts of atonement. They perform the rituals and follow the law but then violate the spirit of God’s Law by being uncaring and cruel to each other.
The prophet explains what that spirit is and how it is to impact their actions and closes with the reward for following the spirit of God’s Law – “Your integrity will go before you and the glory of the Lord behind you. Cry, and the Lord will answer; call, and he will say, ‘I am here’.” [3] He goes on to describe the salvific effect of these actions of charity and compassion as being as a light in darkness, as rain in parched land. He concludes with what can be seen as a baptismal reference (well-spring of holiness) that brings eternal life.
CCC: Is 58:6-7 2447
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Responsorial Psalm: 3. Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14 (From #884, For the Nation)
R. (see 9b) The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will listen for the word of God;
surely the LORD will proclaim peace
Near indeed is his salvation
Near indeed is salvation for the loyal;
prosperity will fill our land
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Love and truth will meet;
justice and peace will kiss.
Truth will spring from the earth;
justice will look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
The LORD will surely grant abundance;
our land will yield its increase.
Prosperity will march before the Lord,
and good fortune will follow behind.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
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Commentary on Ps 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14
Psalm 85 is a communal lament that focuses on the woes of the nation. These strophes reflect the joy of salvation at the restoration of the land following the destruction of the temple and the Diaspora. Those faithful to God see the reward: a land restored, justice returned, and the salvation of God.
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Gospel: 4. Matthew 22:15-21 (From #886, For the Nation)
The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
"Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,
for you do not regard a person's status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax."
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"
They replied, "Caesar's."
At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
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Commentary on Mt 22:15-21
St. Matthew describes this incident between Jesus and the Pharisees (with support of those who followed King Herod – Herodians who were fiercely loyal to Rome). In this instance a trap was intended to be laid for Jesus. By asking him if the census tax should be paid the Lord would have been condemned if he answered yes or no. If he said yes, the Hebrews would have called him heretic based on idol worship since Caesar considered himself to be a god. If he said no, the Herodians would have pounced because Jesus would have been encouraging disobedience to the civil government.
“Is this not, in fact, one of the choice ploys of the enemies of religion in all ages? ̶ namely, to argue that all those sublime truths about God’s glory and heroic charity, and so forth, may be very fine poetry indeed, but they change absolutely nothing in the hardships of our concrete lives… Was it not precisely Satan’s strategy during the Temptations to try persuading Jesus that, in “real” human life, a real loaf of bread, made from real wheat grains, is far more nourishing than the “sublime” Word of God? No wonder Jesus knows the “malice” in his questioners' hearts!” [4]
The Lord finds the trap and avoids it by using the coin’s (graven) image of a false god to be paid to that god. At the same time he encouraged the Hebrew faithful to provide the necessary sacrifices and tithes to the temple.
CCC: Mt 22:21 2242
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Reflection:
The word of God, our Sacred Scriptures, and the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ focus all our attention on the idea of harmony based upon love and respect: love and respect for our fellow beings; love and respect for the creation the Lord, in his infinite mercy, placed in our trust. There is no question that our biblical texts speak of the frailty and failings of peoples throughout history to hear that clarion call to love. But always the people find a way to forget, to become wrapped up in their own greed or idealism and believe themselves to be above God’s law and to ignore the dignity of humankind from conception to natural death. The very notion of sin can be most easily defined as a conscious failure to love.
When these failings occur, the Lord stretches out a loving hand to his fondest creation and calls them back. We see this clearly as the prophet Isaiah, speaking with God’s voice, calls to the Hebrew people who were torn apart from their land in a war that cause an entire nation to be scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire. He calls them to seek justice for those falsely accused and imprisoned and he calls his people to peace and unity.
Jesus faced similar trials in his life and ministry among us. In the confrontation between Jesus, the Pharisees, and the Herodians recounted in St. Matthew’s Gospel. we see even political rivals join forces to try to pull down the idea of unity under God. They attempt to force Jesus to declare that the head of state of the Roman Empire, Caesar, is master of all creation (recalling that Caesar declared himself a god). Always power has corrupted, and the power of Rome in Jesus' day corrupted many hearts. But the Lord recognized that government had its place and that faith in a higher power need not be subservient to it. He pointed to a symbol of civil power, monetary exchange, and rightly stated that it was Rome’s domain, not the kingdom of God.
Today, in the United States of America, we celebrate our declaration of independence from the United Kingdom (England as it was called in 1776). God-fearing individuals recognized that for people to flourish in our country “We the people” needed a system of government that was based upon human freedoms and human dignity. Looking back those 200 plus years, we know many of those “founding fathers” were subject to the morality of the times. They were imperfect and many, by modern standards, would be considered downright crude and criminal. We cannot look at history, however, and judge those individuals by our standards. They were, even as in biblical times, operating out of the Sitz im Leben, or situation in the life and times in which they were living.
We are unfortunately seeing today many groups and individuals who under the label “activists” wish to judge all historical figures by their own personal gnosis, believing themselves to be able to judge long-dead leaders by their own standards. The Lord has given us a warning about such “idealism”: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2)
Today we celebrate the beginning of national journey. We recall the brave people who have, over the centuries, fought and died that the idea of liberty for all people might continue here, in the land of the free. We thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit which inspired many of those who founded our nation, and we ask for continued strength to mend the political animosity that grips our country. For our part, we are called to be disciples of the Christ whose great commandment was that we love one another. Let us all pledge to do that, to put aside the contentious ideals of politics and work to become one nation under God.
Pax
[4] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume III, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2012 p. 543.
