A Sunday Thought About the Fourth of July to Start the Week Off Right
We just celebrated the 239th anniversary of the first Independence Day - July 4, 1776. Our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. They severed their political ties with the King and Parliament. The American Revolution, which had seen its first blood shed at Lexington and Concord a few months before officially began.
Here's how the Declaration of Independence begins (emphasis added):
If you've never tried to, just think about explaining to someone today that we derive our laws ultimately from God. Having done this, I can say you may be confronted with a pitying smile or outright mocking derision. Or, more likely, you'll see the puzzled visage of those products of an educational system that leaves the majority of its graduates clueless about the reality of objective truth and morality.
For our Founders, indeed for most of our ancestors, the natural law was, well, naturally understood. They were rightly educated. That's why, lest the central importance of God and His natural law be somehow lost or misunderstood, when it came time to seal the deal at the end of the Declaration of Independence and officially declare independence, the signers prefaced their ultimate declaration:
If you're not clear about natural law, and how it derives from God's law, this would be a good time to make it your business to bone up on this. For now, read the Declaration of Independence with a calm, open mind. There's no other document like it (at least one with which I'm familiar) in all the world.
When Pope Pius XI declared the first feast of Christ the King on October 31, 1926, his declaration of Jesus Christ as the ultimate ruler - or King - of each and every nation in this world may have been a step further than our Founding Fathers took in 1776, but I don't think it's completely alien to their thinking. And while the U.S. cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a "Catholic" country, it surely can be characterized as a Christian country.
So now that we've brought our dear country and God together where they belong, despite what you typically read or hear these days, let's end today's comments with my favorite version of "America the Beautiful." While Ray Charles doesn't sing all the verses (see below), his wonderful interpretation begins with the third verse, one we don't hear very often. It's one of the reasons I like this version - never mind the arrangement and vocal performance of one of the authentic geniuses of American popular music.
Here's how the Declaration of Independence begins (emphasis added):
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.They weren't just ticked off that the King and Parliament had imposed taxes on them, without their having representation in that decision ("taxation without representation"). The Declaration lists a whole host of grievances. But the key for us today is to remember that they based their right of rebellion on natural law, which law ultimately comes from God. It's key because at this point in the history of our country, the idea of "natural law" is considered in some quarters passe, quaint, a product of a time long gone.
If you've never tried to, just think about explaining to someone today that we derive our laws ultimately from God. Having done this, I can say you may be confronted with a pitying smile or outright mocking derision. Or, more likely, you'll see the puzzled visage of those products of an educational system that leaves the majority of its graduates clueless about the reality of objective truth and morality.
For our Founders, indeed for most of our ancestors, the natural law was, well, naturally understood. They were rightly educated. That's why, lest the central importance of God and His natural law be somehow lost or misunderstood, when it came time to seal the deal at the end of the Declaration of Independence and officially declare independence, the signers prefaced their ultimate declaration:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare...If you've not read the Declaration of Independence lately, do so. (you can read the entire Declaration of Independence HERE.)
If you're not clear about natural law, and how it derives from God's law, this would be a good time to make it your business to bone up on this. For now, read the Declaration of Independence with a calm, open mind. There's no other document like it (at least one with which I'm familiar) in all the world.
When Pope Pius XI declared the first feast of Christ the King on October 31, 1926, his declaration of Jesus Christ as the ultimate ruler - or King - of each and every nation in this world may have been a step further than our Founding Fathers took in 1776, but I don't think it's completely alien to their thinking. And while the U.S. cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a "Catholic" country, it surely can be characterized as a Christian country.
So now that we've brought our dear country and God together where they belong, despite what you typically read or hear these days, let's end today's comments with my favorite version of "America the Beautiful." While Ray Charles doesn't sing all the verses (see below), his wonderful interpretation begins with the third verse, one we don't hear very often. It's one of the reasons I like this version - never mind the arrangement and vocal performance of one of the authentic geniuses of American popular music.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
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