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14th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
July 7, 2013 7:30 and 9:00am
Saint Margaret
Parish, Bel Air
Moving America Toward Fulfillment and Completion
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Unfinished America
This may sound like
a strange request, but if you have a $1 bill in your wallet or purse, please
take it out for just a minute.
And no, I am not
going to collect them! Go to the backside
of the dollar bill and notice what we call the Great Seal of the United States
of America.
One side of the Seal
– the side on the right – features the American eagle. The eagle is clutching arrows in one of its
talons and an olive branch in the other, with 13 stars above its head.
Now notice the other
side of the Seal – the side on the left.
This shows, under the eye of God, a pyramid, but notice also that the
pyramid is unfinished, with no top on it.
The designers of our
Great Seal did this intentionally. The
idea is that America is a country that always remains incomplete.
The vision of our
founding fathers was that building a nation of liberty and justice for all is a
never-ending task. It began 237 years
ago and continues right down to today.
The Contributions of Catholics
The question I would
like to ask this Fourth of July weekend is this: What can we as Catholic Americans, or for
that matter Christian Americans, contribute to the unfinished task of our
country?
What can we, as
persons of faith, do to make a difference?
I would see two contributions that are rooted in today’s Gospel.
Contribution 1: Think Broadly
Our first
contribution might be to think broadly.
Luke in today’s Gospel
says that Jesus sends out 72 disciples.
That number is significant.
It goes back to the
story of Noah and the flood in the Book of Genesis. Noah’s children had 72 sons.
So, the number 72 is
symbolic of everyone on the earth – all persons and peoples. Our contribution then can be to think beyond
myself and beyond what is good only for me.
We in Harford County
need to think of the well-being of Baltimore City. We in Maryland need to think of the
well-being of the entire country.
We in the United
States need to think of the well-being of the entire world. When we fail to think this way, we easily get
into a competitive, dog-eat-dog world.
Distance and
mistrust and hostility easily spread. However,
when we do think this way, we are actually more fully alive.
And a sense of being
connected, being trustful, and being in harmony with others all have a much better
chance to sway the day.
So thinking broadly
is the first contribution we can make.
Contribution 2: Live Simply
And our second contribution is to live simply.
Jesus in the gospel tells his 72 disciples to carry “no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” In other words, take only what you really
need.
I think Pope Francis is giving us a good example of
this. He chose to live in a simple
apartment as the Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina. And now as the Bishop of
Rome, he continues to live in a simple apartment in a place of lodging for Vatican
visitors and not in the Apostolic Palace.
He dresses simply, speaks of wasting food as stealing it
from the tables of the poor.
By his example, he is already calling the Church and all
of us to a lifestyle of greater simplicity.
One thing I think we all need to do is look at what we intend to buy and
see if it is a need or just a want.
And if it is only a want or a desire, am I willing to hold
off from buying the item and instead use the money in a different way?
We also need to look at our waste of water and utilities. Can
we make a conscious effort to cut out the waste?
Living more simply helps us to stay in touch with what is
really important. It keeps us from just
living on the surface.
It also keeps us in touch with the great disparities in
our world, where 3 billion of the 7 billion people live on $2 a day or
less. So living simply is a contribution
we can make.
Conclusion
To (1) Think broadly and (2) live simply – we Catholics
and all Christians – can make a contribution to the unfinished work of our
country by doing these things.
Of course there are other things we can do, but these two
emerge in today’s Gospel.
In doing them, we will be respectful of others and we will
be creating an environment where justice and peace have a chance to emerge.
