Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 7, 2018 Column Father De Celles
4 th of July. Thanks be to God for the many gifts He has showered on our beloved nation.
Some thoughts below about His role in our nation’s history.
Pope Saint John Paul II, Welcome to the New American Ambassador to the Holy
See, December 16, 1997 (excerpt)
The Founding Fathers of the United States asserted their claim to freedom and
independence on the basis of certain “self-evident” truths about the human person:
truths which could be discerned in human nature, built into it by “nature’s God.” Thus
they meant to bring into being, not just an independent territory, but a great experiment
in what George Washington called “ordered liberty”…. Reading the founding documents
of the United States, one has to be impressed by the concept of freedom they enshrine: a
freedom designed to enable people to fulfill their duties and responsibilities toward the
family and toward the common good of the community. Their authors clearly understood
that there could be no true freedom without moral responsibility and accountability, and
no happiness without respect and support for the natural units or groupings through
which people exist, develop, and seek the higher purposes of life in concert with others.
The American democratic experiment has been successful in many ways. …But the
continuing success of American democracy depends on the degree to which each new
generation, native-born and immigrant, makes its own the moral truths on which the
Founding Fathers staked the future of your Republic.
….Respect for religious conviction played no small part in the birth and early
development of the United States. Thus John Dickinson, Chairman of the Committee for
the Declaration of Independence, said in 1776: “Our liberties do not come from
charters; for these are only the declaration of preexisting rights. They do not depend on
parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth.”
Indeed it may be asked whether the American democratic experiment would have been
possible, or how well it will succeed in the future, without a deeply rooted vision of divine
providence over the individual and over the fate of nations.
George Washington's First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789 (excerpt)
…it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent
supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the
Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his
benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United
States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may
enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the
functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every
public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my
own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to
acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than
the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character
of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential
agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United
Government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct
communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by
which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude
along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.
These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on
my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none
under the influence of which, the proceedings of a new and free Government can more
auspiciously commence.
By the article establishing the Executive Department, it is made the duty of the
President "to recommend to your consideration, such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient." …[T]he foundations of our National policy will be laid in the
pure and immutable principles of private morality; and the pre-eminence of a free
Government, be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its
Citizens, and command the respect of the world.
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my
Country can inspire: since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there
exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and
happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and
magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: Since we
ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected
on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has
ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the
Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps
as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people….
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the
occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without
resorting once more to the benign parent of the human race, in humble supplication….so
his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate
consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must
depend.
George Washington's Farewell Address, September 17, 1796 (excerpt)
Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and
Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these
firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their
connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security
for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths,
which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution
indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may
be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason
and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle.
It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular
government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free
government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts
to shake the foundation of the fabric?
Oremus pro invicem, et pro patria. Fr. De Celles