Editor’s Note: This article summarizes a homily preached by Fr. Luke Daghir the weekend anticipating the 4th of July in the summer of 2023 (13th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Year A). The homily preached last summer (2023) can be found here.
During a conversation with my grandmother about the 4th of July, she shared a significant part of her school days. Every morning, after prayers to start the school day, all the students would recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I shared how it was the same where I had gone to school. Also, when I taught in public education, we said the Pledge of Allegiance every day.
We both reflected on how starting the school day as a Catholic American was a good way to start the day.
The Pledge of Allegiance has much more history than we might think. Since 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance has undergone numerous revisions. For instance, the phrase under God was not always in the Pledge.
In 1951, many of the Knights of Columbus 4th Degree assembly meetings began to recite the words under God within the Pledge of Allegiance. Soon after, every Knights of Columbus council meeting began to recite the words under God.
Then, the Knights of Columbus began petitioning the United States Congress to amend the Pledge by adding the words under God. The Knights also encouraged over 100 other fraternal societies to petition.
Then, in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the congressional resolution to amend the Pledge and add the two-word phrase under God. In a letter of gratitude to the Knights of Columbus, President Eisenhower wrote that this two-word phrase would “help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man.”
Pope Saint John 23rd also wrote a note of gratitude to the Knights. Concerning the addition of the words under God, the Pope wrote, “Some 30 million children, at the beginning of each school day, acknowledged the existence of God and their dependence upon Divine Providence.”
Remember, this was the 1950s when the Knights stepped up to help add the phrase under God. In the 1900s, there had already been two World Wars, then the Rise of Communism and Nuclear Threat.
Following World War II in 1946, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England, said, “An iron curtain has descended across the continent of Europe.” That Iron Curtain was Communism.
President Ronald Reagan in 1987, some 40 years after Churchill’s statement, said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The wall was symbolic of Communism.
Communism is often a close neighbor of atheism.
In the 1960s, the Catholic Church held the Second Vatican Council. This was inaugurated by Pope Saint John 23rd. The Bishops worldwide had lived through the fire of the early 20th century.
Pope Saint John Paul II of Poland went to an underground seminary due to the War and Nazi occupation of his country. Years prior to becoming Pope, John Paul II was at the Second Vatican Council.
The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of Germany was enlisted as a Hitler Youth against his desires. Benedict XVI shared a story of being in line, and the Nazi officer asked each of the young German men what they would be when they grew up to help the New Germany. Some said engineers, doctors, and other occupations. The young Benedict XVI looked the Nazi officer in the eye and said that he was going to be a priest. The Nazi officer looked at the future pope and told him there would not be a need for Catholic priests in the New Germany. Benedict knew in his heart that there would always be a need for priests because there would always be a need for God.
Years before becoming Pope, Benedict XVI was also at the Second Vatican Council.
The Bishops developed a document titled Joy and Hope that presented thoughts on the role of the Church in the modern world, a world that had seen mass destruction, concentration camps, and nuclear threats. The document states that “atheism must be accounted among the most serious problems of this age, and is deserving of closer examination.”
Joy and Hope was published in 1965, 11 years after the phrase under God was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. What the Bishops had encountered throughout the world, the Knights of Columbus had anticipated and acted courageously.
In the Gospel today, Jesus said, “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple— amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."
Helping young people to believe in God quenches the soul’s thirst for the infinite like a cup of cold water for the body’s thirst. The Knights of Columbus, by their courageous actions to help add the words under God, have helped to quench the thirsts of millions.
Recall the words of the late Pope Saint John 23rd: “Some 30 million children, at the beginning of each school day, acknowledged the existence of God and their dependence upon Divine Providence.”
Jesus also said in the Gospel that “whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” The Catechism teaches us that our first vocation as a Christian is to follow Jesus.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address, climatically uttered the famous phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."
What is the greatest gift we can give our country? The answer is: our first vocation, which is to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Our country is in need of more followers of Jesus.
The two-word phrase under God was a monumental effort on behalf of the Knights of Columbus and those 100-plus fraternal societies who wrote to Congress. However, there is another two-word phrase defended by Catholics that has been monumental in our era.
The two-word phrase is pro-life.
To use two of Pope Saint John Paul II's phrases, the Catholic Church has helped the United States move away from a culture of death towards a civilization of love.
This 4th of July, be confident as a Catholic American. Be confident in Catholicism’s ability to make a country and a culture better and more beautiful.
Have confidence in God, who will give you the grace to pick up your cross and follow Him.
To be proud to be an American is good, but it is even better to be proud to be a Catholic American.
By the grace of God, may the United States of America become more under God and pro-life.
+ Fr. Luke Daghir