We Gather in Christ’s Name

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week our nation celebrates Independence Day. The Sundays that surround that holiday sometimes become a testing ground for music ministers and liturgists. Should you include patriotic songs and other national symbols into the Mass this weekend or next? We might turn to today’s readings to give us some guidance.

To follow Christ, we must be single-minded in our goal and dispassionate in our earthly loyalties. We cannot passively maintain our faith out of habit or family custom. Rather, we must have the same resolute determination Jesus showed on his way to Jerusalem, choosing his course and actions even though they would certainly lead to his persecution and death by those in power.

Christian faith claims no nation, political party, race, or ethnicity. It cannot put homeland above faith in the one who had “nowhere to rest his head” (Lk 9:58). This is not to disregard the importance of patriotism and civic responsibility by Christians in their role as citizens of a nation. Rather, it is to safeguard the catholic, universal essence of our Christian faith. Not everyone who will celebrate the Eucharist this week will be a citizen of the United States. Yet all who do are citizens of the holy nation set apart as God’s own. That is our focus every time we gather in Christ’s name.