Happy Fourth of July! (Feast of St. Elizabeth of Portugal)
Yes, happy 4th of July! According to the calendar of the Church, July 4th’s real significance is that it is the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271-1336), a patron Saint of peacemakers.
The sad fact, however, is that if you were to attend Mass on this day, the chances of your priest mentioning this feast are slim to none. Instead, you are likely to participate in a Eucharist which has been transformed into a syncretistic ritual of american civil religion. Thank God that, despite the sectarian tendencies of the american Church, the transnational Church calls us Catholics to be a peculiar people who mark time differently than the rest of the world, and the rest of our nation.
St. Elizabeth, pray for us, that we american Catholics may truly take our place in the one, transnational Body of Christ that resists the dismemberment caused by our tendency to cling to national allegiances. And on the day that the rest of the united states celebrates its foundational myth of violence and the sacrifices of soldiering which parody the Cross, let us be ever more formed by the words of Jesus in the Gospel reading for July 4th: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
You know, you’d think that we Reformed folk would be somewhat innoculated from the nationalism-as-religion bug, what with our emphasis on God’s sovereignty, which makes American booyahism look like a sickly imitation of the real thing. And yet, I saw last night that the (nominally RCA-affiliated) Chrystal Cathedral’s ‘Hour of Power’ program (don’t get me started on so-called ‘television churches’ — that’s a whole ‘nother post) is advertising that ‘the world’s largest indoor American flag’ being raised in their ’sanctuary’ during a ‘worship service’. This makes me wonder what, exactly, is being worshipped. How sad that people are being misled by the great civil religion lie. St. Elizabeth, pray for us!
The Romanist collect for today:
Father of peace and love, you gave St. Elizabeth the gift of reconciling enemies. By the help of her prayers give us the courage to work for peace among men, that we may be called the sons of God. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Amen!
