Liturgy and Country

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…” 249 years ago, these words were inscribed in our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

Today, one of the most vital services that Catholic Christians provide to our nation is our witness to truth and the reasonableness of reason, which our Creator has given to us. This is especially true of our witness to the natural moral law (knowable by all who use right reason) and to the norms of social justice. Here is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it: ’It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity.’ (2239).

The liturgy is nothing other than the solemn and public worship of the Church, her official prayers and blessings, the sacraments, and above all the holy Sacrifice of Christ, the Mass. Through the liturgy, we are publicly formed to be citizens for the public good. Pope St. Pius X not only called this liturgy the indispensable source of the true Christian spirit, but added that the faithful must derive this spirit from the Church’s worship by active participation; therefore, not by passive bodily presence, but by being present in such a manner that mind and heart are actively joined to the official worship and take intelligent part in the holy action.

This is not merely an abstract doctrine or truth of our Christian lives, but one that should be the basis of our every thought and action as Christians. By becoming members of the Mystical Body of Christ through Baptism, we no longer belong to ourselves alone but above all to Christ and His cause. All our good actions and merits likewise, which we perform only through Christ, belong strictly to Christ for attaining the purpose of Christ. Thus, all the merits of Christ, which exceed all human needs, and those of His members, form a common treasury of graces and merits, which are in turn applied to all the members according to their needs and their deserts. Properly formed and aligned to Christ through our participation in her sacramental life, we, the church, can provide the witness to Truth in our nation that our founding fathers recognized as so vitally important.