TEXT: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 6, 2025
July 6, 2025 Father De Celles Homily
14th Sunday Ordinary Time
July 6, 2025
Homily by Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
Springfield, VA
This last Friday we remembered July 4th, 1776,
Independence Day, the birthday of our country.
And we rightly celebrated with cookouts, parades, speeches and fireworks.
It is a day of great national love and pride,
and mutual goodwill among Americans.
A day celebrating patriotism.
But not for everyone.
Last week newspaper headlines read “American Pride Slips to New Low”
as they cited a new Gallup poll that shows dramatic decreases
when people are asked how proud they are to be American.
We see this same sentiment expressed by the actions of
some who spent the 4th boycotting or even protesting celebrations.
Or the voices of public figures telling us things like
life in America is worse than life in countries like China or Iran.
That may anger some of us, but is this lack of patriotism wrong?
Does God command us to be patriotic?
The answer is yes.
Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are
first, to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength,
and second, to love your neighbor as yourself.
As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, our first neighbor is our family,
especially our parents,
but after that our second neighbor, so to speak,
is our country (“patria” in Latin) and our fellow countrymen.
So, the second great commandment applies first to parents and family
and second to country and countrymen.
We see this specified, if you will, in the fourth commandment:
“Honor your father and mother.”
God gives you parents and family to love and care for you,
and in return calls you to love and care for them—to “honor” them.
In the same way, God gives us our country and fellow countrymen
to love and care for us,
so we in turn must love and care for our country and countrymen
—we must honor it and them.
For example, we read in today’s first reading,
“Thus says the LORD: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her…”
This is talking about the virtue of love of country because
Jerusalem stood for the whole country of Israel.
This is Patriotism.
And I think we see the same virtue in Jesus Himself.
Once, when Jesus was going to Jerusalem, the gospels tell us,
“When He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it,”
because He saw how Jerusalem would reject Him,
and how this would lead to her destruction at the hands of Rome.
Loving our neighbor demands love of patria, country.
Of course, the people in other countries are also our neighbors,
and God commands us to love them also.
But it’s a matter of priorities:
We should love and help the people next door,
but clearly before that, we should take care of our families first.
It’s a simple rule: “Charity begins at home.”
Again, it’s a very simple concept:
If you can’t love the people God has put close to you,
how can you really love people far away from you?
It’s the same thing with patriotism.
We should love people in other countries,
but first we should love, honor and care for our country and countrymen.
Then we love and help folks in other countries.
Now, some today say that this is wrongheaded.
Many would equate, or conflate, “patriotism”
with what has been historically called “nationalism.”
Even good patriots do this, using the term “nationalism”
when I think what they really mean is “patriotism.”
I wish they wouldn’t confuse or conflate the two.
Historically, “nationalism” is very different from patriotism
in that historical nationalism would say
not, “America first,” but “America, first, last and only.”
Historical nationalism would even allow us to conquer foreign lands
just because we think our nation is better
and has a right to take whatever we want.
That’s nationalism, and that is wrong—that is sinful.
Patriotism does not do that.
A Patriot would not say, “American, first, last and only,”
but rather, “American first, but then everyone else is second,”
or better yet, something like:
“God first, family second, America third…and everyone else fourth.”
Now, some might say, “But Father, what about people who aren’t citizens?
Maybe they’re law-abiding non-citizen residents,
but not technically ‘American’.”
Well, perhaps.
But if they embrace America, our values, our system of government and laws,
and have adopted America as their permanent home,
they too are, for purpose of charity and patriotism, our fellow countrymen.
And they too should be patriotic Americans.
Now, we have to be careful.
First, as I said, I wish people would stop using the term “nationalism”
when they mean “patriotism.”
But also, just as patriotism isn’t historical nationalism,
patriotism isn’t historical “nativism”
“Nativism” means placing priority on people who are born here,
or even who’s great-grandparents were born here,
so they’d been here for generations.
That would exclude all immigrants.
Nativism is basically anti-immigrant.
Patriotism, on the other hand,
extends priority to all who share the same commitment
to be part of the fabric of our country,
including those whom God has moved here from other countries,
respecting our laws–legal immigrants—
and who are sincerely committed to patriotism.
And finally, patriotism also isn’t the same as loving the government per se,
but rather honoring the government to the extent it is part of the country
and at the service of the people of the country.
For example, we don’t honor the president because he’s in charge,
or even because we like him as a person,
but because he holds an office
that is essential for the good of our fellow countrymen,
and even a symbol of our country as a whole.
The thing is, patriotism is not just an ideal,
but has a practical everyday application.
First of all, it means learning the history of our country, both the good and bad.
But like a family that embraces the good memories and works to fix the bad,
patriots celebrate the greatness in our history,
even as we learn from and work to overcome our failures.
A patriot, however, does not allow past failures to cause us to dishonor our country.
Patriotism also involves participation in the life of our nation.
This includes everything from working productively in school or at a job,
to raising a good and healthy family, to paying taxes.
And it involves participating in the public square,
including voting whenever there is an election,
and even campaigning for candidates who truly want the best for our country.
Patriotism also means defending our country.
So many of you have dedicated your lives, or part of your lives, to this,
taking up arms and uniforms for our country.
Thank you for your service. You are true patriots.
Defending America also includes simply standing up and speaking out
for the good of our country,
not being silenced by the politically correct crowd,
and using your God-given and constitutionally-protected
freedom of speech and assembly to publicly promote
what you believe is genuinely good for our country.
And patriotism means truly striving for the good of each other.
This means both providing opportunities
for everyone to provide for their own well-being,
primarily through just laws and a sound economic system,
and providing necessities for those
who truly cannot provide for themselves.
And it means respecting each other in word and action.
Like a family, we can argue; we can even call each other names.
But also like a family, there are lines we know we should never cross and
words we should never use
because we know that would be too much–that would be a dishonor.
Too often today, our public discourse crosses those lines of respect and honor.
As patriots we cannot condone this.
It goes without saying, that as with our family members we disagree with,
we must almost never ever resort to violence
against our fellow countrymen or their possessions.
Rioting, assaulting police, or burning down our neighbor’s business
are the antithesis of patriotism.
And, finally, patriotism means honoring the symbols of our country.
I have pictures of my family all over the rectory;
they are just images on paper,
but they remind me of my family and help me to honor and love them.
It’s the same thing with the symbols of America.
So, when the American flag passes or the National Anthem is played,
it is important to be patriotic and honor America
by standing and maybe placing our hands over our hearts,
or for many, saluting,
whatever the custom is.
When I look at a picture of my mother or father,
I don’t think of the times they might have been unjust or too harsh with me.
No, I focus on what made them so good, and the love between us.
So, we don’t burn the American flag but salute it.
And we shouldn’t choose to see it as a sign
of the injustices that have been tolerated in the years since our founding,
but as a sign of the great and noble ideals enshrined in the founding
–ideas like “all men are created equal”–
that have propelled us over the years to work to overcome those errors.
To some today, it seems patriotism is a dirty word or a sign of partisanship.
It is not.
Patriotism is an essential part of what it means to be a virtuous person
and a true Christian.
To fail to strive to be a patriot is to sin.
So, as we now enter more deeply into this Holy Mass, let us pray for America.
Let us pray that all who live in our great country may join together as patriots
to cherish and honor her for the good she has done,
and work together to correct her faults.
And as we receive Our Lord Jesus in Holy Communion,
may He give us the grace to love our neighbor as we ought and increase in us the noble and necessary virtue of patriotism.