7/5/26 Citizens, Not Subjects

0:01 Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you. And I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this and other Sunday mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe in your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to the Lord.

1:05 Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like you to have a seat. so when I was in seminary there I had a buddy there who uh when he was in high school he had been a foreign exchange student uh somewhere in Europe and I remember him telling the story very uh it was it was very impactful on him and it made an impact on me he said when he arrived in whatever European country that he was uh gonna be studying in uh his his host father picked him up and at the airport and his host father didn't say a word he said you're the guy yep I'm the guy got in the car and he just drove in silence and he was so uncomfortable he's a high school student he's in europe for the first time he's far away from home all these things and the man doesn't say a word he's like i'm going to live with this man the entire time in his family the entire time i'm here in in europe and at one point they pull up to the house and the first thing essentially that this man says to my buddy from seminary is he says you see this house this house is older than your country and like I was like oh my gosh and I was like that's that's that's true and it was amazing and it was in I think there's I mean obviously there's the history of the world the culture of Europe the culture around the world so much older than than even here the United States and yet and yet here we are this weekend we get to celebrate commemorate the 250th anniversary of the beginning of our country, the Declaration of Independence, which is, it's an honor.

2:53 It's an honor to be able to be in this place, right? Actually to be in mass and even be able to be united. I mean, here's the thing, here's the thing. I don't think, well, some people might describe themselves as, I'm an American Catholic. That is incorrect way to describe themselves. Even if you're from America and you're Catholic, that's not the right way to say it. we're not American Catholics. We're something else. We're something else. And in fact, we celebrate this anniversary, 250 years, because our forefathers made a decision of what they would be, right? They'd made a decision of what they would be. And our forefathers decided, at one point they decided 250 years ago, that they would no longer be subjects. They would no longer be subjects. They would be something else entirely. They decided that they and their descendants would be citizens. Not subjects, but citizens.

3:50 Now, being a subject is not horrible. There's a lot of virtues when it comes to being a subject. You're loyal, subjects are obedient, subjects serve. Those are all fine things, but citizens have something else. Citizens must be something else. What does it take to be a citizen? It takes conviction, it takes responsibility, it takes courage. no again let me just pause on this um because the context here at mass we're at mass right now the context here at mass is is always the proclamation of the gospel and the worship of god right so so even if i talk about our country talk about some some history the context of the mass is always these two things it's always the proclamation of the gospel and the worship of god we know this in the gospel jesus has come to me all you who labor and are burdened we go to him so this is what we need to know. Again, we're not American Catholics. We're something else. We know this, that Jesus is our Savior, that Jesus is our God, that we do not look to any other person. We do not look to any other institution to save us. So we never forget that. We never forget that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. But we also have the opportunity to celebrate a national holiday with gratitude that we are not American Catholics, but we can love Jesus, we can be faithful disciples, we can be joyful Catholics, and we also can be citizens of the United States.

5:13 In fact, I would say this. I would say that as Catholic Christians, it isn't a stretch to say that we are actually called, that we are maybe even commanded to be patriotic. That's actually part of what we have to be. I don't know if you know this. Do you know that patriotism is actually a virtue? If you go back in the history of the Greek thought and then Catholic thought, is that there's four cardinal virtues, right? There's justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. That first virtue, justice, means what? Justice simply means giving someone what they're owed. So I'm a just person if I give someone what I owe them. Establishing justice is giving someone what they do. But there's some sub-virtues underneath the virtue of justice. One of the sub-virtues under justice is love of God. I give God what he's owed. Another virtue under the virtue of justice is love of family. And a sub-virtue under the virtue of justice is love of one's country, is patriotism. And to recognize this, to recognize that each and every one of us, we owe a debt to the United States of America that we cannot repay.

6:25 We owe a debt to the founding fathers. And people say, yeah, but they did bad things too. They might have founded this country, but they also did bad things. I say, yes, yes, they're no better than any of us. And maybe some of them were worse than some of us. But let's sit with that for a second. You and I owe a debt to people who were not perfect. Go back to the family, the virtue of love of family.

6:54 My family wasn't perfect. Your family wasn't perfect. And yet, what are we called? We're called to love them. Not to ignore their wounds, not to ignore their faults, but to love our family because they've given us something. that we didn't deserve.

7:14 And so in justice, it simply says, give what you're owed or give to those what you owe. And again, let's go back to patriotism. It's a virtue to love one's country. I think this, I think the tragedy is this. I think one of the tragedies is right now in our culture, we live among people who are seemingly incapable of this virtue, who are seemingly incapable of the virtue of patriotism. But again, having this virtue doesn't mean pretending that the object of our love is perfect. Like we all know that. I think we're all old enough, right, to understand that we know a friend or our family doesn't have to be perfect for us to love them.

7:53 In fact, loving someone often means seeing their faults and wanting better for them. Loving someone is the opposite of ignoring their faults. Once again, I would say this. Loving someone means seeing that they're not who they should be and trying to help them be better. So the question, can love of country go too far? Of course it can. I mean, a person can be tempted to ignore what's wrong.

8:19 In families, that often happens. Can love of family go too far? Yes, there are so many times when a person might be tempted to sacrifice the truth or justice for the sake of one's family. Can love of country go too far? Of course, that's why there's words like jingoism. There's words like nationalism. Love of country can go too far, but also there can also be too little love.

8:39 You know, there's a person, I drive by his house regularly. I drive by his house almost daily. And in front of his house, he has a Ukraine flag. I don't think I've ever seen him fly an American flag. Now, of course, we want to support Ukraine against Russia. Of course, that would be a good thing to be united on. But I think about this. This man has actually ran for public office in our community. He's never hung an American flag outside of his house, but he still hangs a Ukrainian flag. Again, nothing against Ukraine. Yes, a bunch of stuff against Russia, but why not? Is it possible? If it's possible to have too much patriotism, is it possible to have too little? And I think the answer is yes. I have friends from Central America, from Ghana. I have friends from Kenya who have become American citizens. And to listen to them talk about the day they became American citizens is to witness patriotism in the flesh. Again, one of my Kenyan friends, I remember I saw him like maybe the week after he had been sworn in as an American citizen.

9:43 And I was like, what is that like? He's like, I just am so grateful. I love this country. Now, he loves his home country of Kenya and he loves his adopted country of America. And I think about if he can do that, why can't we? because here's the stakes. If we can't do this, like we can't have this virtue, remember it's a virtue. If we can't have this virtue of patriotism, if we're incapable of loving our country, then I think we will soon cease to be the United States of America. And this isn't just like, Father Mike, what's up with the patriotic morning? It's not just me, Abraham Lincoln, right? Abraham Lincoln, who is largely regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest president of our country. He had said this, he was actually only 28 years old. He was giving a talk to the Young Men, it's called the Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois. He's only 28 and he said this.

10:36 First he started talking about how great this country is and actually not only how great, but how our forefathers had sacrificed so much to give us our freedoms, to give us our constitution, to give us this country. And he went on and on about this in language that is hard for us to understand. But he made it very, very clear that we've been, he said this, he said, There's a legacy betweeth to us. By once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors, theirs was the task to possess themselves and through themselves to us of this goodly land, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights. It's ours only to transmit these. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform. So we've been given this gift.

11:31 So justice, we need to do something with this. And he says then, he asks the question, how then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never. And he's saying, basically, here we are in America. Is there any country who will ever be able to defeat us? He goes on to say, he says, never, all the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined with all the treasures of the earth are unaccepted in their military chest with a born apart for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge Mountains in a trial of a thousand years. Here's Lincoln who's saying that here we are, we are indomitable. Here we are as a country, no other country will ever be able to defeat us. But then he goes on to say, at what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?

12:30 I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.

12:55 Here's Lincoln, who looked at us and said, we've been handed this incredible gift. No one, no country, no nation on earth will ever be able to take it away from us. The only way we could ever possibly lose it. is if we give it away, if we remain so divided that all is lost. Now, remember this. Remember, Lincoln said these words while slavery was still very much in effect. He's saying these words, yeah, that America is great, founded by great men, flawed men, and they still have work to do. At the same time, while they still had work to do, Lincoln was able to say, but it's still work worth doing. And I think here we are so many years later, and there's still work to do, but is there also love to have?

13:44 You know, I think the question begs, can we point out already that a lot of work has been done? Since Lincoln's time of saying that the only way we'll ever be defeated as a nation is death by suicide, there's been so much work. Obviously, it's been pointed out again and again that, you know, our nation's original sin, that's sometimes the term that's used, that slavery is America's original sin. And I wouldn't argue that. I would say, yeah, that has been part of our founding, part of our history. But we'd have to ask the question too, realize that if slavery is our original sin,

14:23 was there ever a moment, possibly even, possibly of redemption from original sin? I'm not saying it would wipe out the pain, the suffering that thousands and millions of people have endured. But was there ever a moment of redemption? I would say this. I would say maybe the Civil War, the war where brother killed brother, the war that was fought not only to keep the country united, but the war that was fought to abolish slavery. If slavery was the original sin of our country, could the Civil War be the redemption of our country? The fact that people who didn't even own slaves, maybe even no slaves, were willing to die to keep this country united and to free slaves.

15:08 I don't know. Maybe it's not enough. And if it's not enough, that's fine because there's still more we can do. But what Abraham Lincoln was trying to point out was what he was ultimately saying was that the greatest danger we face in the United States is if we forget to love this beautiful and flawed nation that's been given to us. That's the greatest danger. That no one power on earth could ever take away what we could give away. that the only death we experience as a country is going to be death by suicide, attacking each other. So what we need is love for this nation. What we need is patriotism. But even more than this, citizens need what? Citizens need conviction. They need responsibility and they need courage. When it comes to conviction, you know, G.K. Chesterton once said about America, G.K. Chesterton was English, but Chesterton said that America is the only country founded upon a creed. And part of the creed is the words found in the Declaration of Independence, right?

16:04 The first word, that second paragraph. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by the creator with certain inalienable rights, among them the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. See, we have to understand this, that that's a statement of faith. That actually, many of our forefathers were men of faith and they made a statement of faith that none of our rights, and this is the statement of faith, none of our rights come from any government. None of our rights come from a government. They were stating that our rights come from God. This is their conviction. If we're going to be citizens, we have to have this conviction that none of our rights come from government. They come from God. Now, the next line, the next line in the Declaration highlights so, so clearly the role of government. The government exists to protect those rights. But this conviction that they come from God, actually, it came up in the Constitutional Convention. So if you know anything about history there, that they're gathering for the Constitutional Convention and nothing's happening.

16:59 They're making no progress, no headway. It was like a month of five weeks. And finally, Benjamin Franklin, who was 81 years old at this point, he stands up and he addresses the Constitutional Convention because all these people, they have all their big ideas. They're all these people who had fought for America's independence and they were not getting along. And Ben Franklin said this, this is a longer quote. Ben Franklin said, how about we pray? He's already said, he said, sir, we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understanding. In the beginnings of a contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine protection. Our prayers then, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind of providence, we owe this happy opportunity of consulting and peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity.

17:56 And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? Basically, he's saying, you know, when we're fighting the war, we were praying every single day. Now we're trying to build a country and we've stopped praying. He goes on to say, I've lived, sir, a long time, 81 years old. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, it's probable that it, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, in vain do the laborers build it. And I firmly believe this, and also believe that without his concurring aid, we shall not succeed in political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword to a future age.

18:50 What is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing a government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, leave it to war, leave it to conquest. Therefore, I beg leave to move. This is a motion he's making. That henceforth prayers imploring the assistance from heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning as we gather.

19:15 Here's Ben Franklin who's saying that, no, we're founding a country based off a creed, based off the faith that God is the one who gives us these rights. Therefore, let's ask God to help us, to direct us, to guide our conversations. Now, just so you know, the little historical thing, the motion was seconded and it was not agreed upon. They couldn't even agree upon whether or not they would pray every day. They're like, it would cost too much to hire a clergy person to come in and pray with us every single day.

19:43 But Franklin was able to capture the conviction of the founding fathers. Our rights come from God and the government exists to protect these rights, not to bestow them and not to deny them. In fact, again, the next line of the Declaration, after we hold these truths to be self-evident, it says this, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. So not subjects, but citizens. Citizens with conviction and citizens with responsibility. What does that mean? That means, again, in the words of the founding documents, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It means it's not someone out there who's responsible. If I'm a citizen, I'm responsible for my community. If I'm a citizen, I'm responsible for my country. And I would suggest this.

20:34 I would suggest that the Founding Fathers did not strive to create the United States merely for the sake of avoiding taxes or avoiding British rule. There was more. They desired to create something worth creating. A country of citizens. which means a country of men and women who have responsibility. Clarence Thomas once said, freedom without responsibility eventually destroys itself. Freedom without responsibility eventually destroys itself.

21:05 I think actually Clarence Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas, said something like this. He said a civilization or a person cannot survive long without conviction, responsibility, and the courage to stand for something. And that courage is necessary for us. In fact, Justice Clarence Thomas, last April, he gave a talk at the University of Texas in Austin. And in this talk, one of the things he spoke about, the necessity for devotion, the necessity for conviction to one's principles, but also he talked about the desperate need for courage. In fact, he brought up the issue of Plessy v. Ferguson. If you remember that Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson about race, it was Plessy v. Ferguson was the separate equal clause, right? Like the hands, like the fingers on a hand, These different races are separate. Keep them, segregation will happen, but they're equal. That was the court case.

21:54 Clarence Thomas says this. He said, Plessy versus Ferguson and the fact that it existed for 60 years in our country, he said it was not the result of ignorance as if people didn't know what was going on. He said it was the result of cowardice. Here's what Thomas said. He said, he got to Washington like 48 years ago. And he said, it did not take me long in Washington to stop wondering why the Supreme Court took 60 years to overrule Plessy versus Ferguson. The 1896 decision that endorsed government racial segregation invalidated the Jim Crow South that I grew up in. He said, it could not have taken the court, my court, because he's a Supreme Court judge, it could not have taken my court 60 years to know that Plessy was a hideous wrong and that racial segregation was grossly incompatible with our colorblind constitution. He said, the justices must have known it all along.

22:50 The right thing to do, as Justice Harlan spelled out in his lone dissent at that time, was obvious, as it so often is. What stood out, what stood in the way, was cowardice. The justices were afraid of the societal consequences. They were afraid of coming under political fire. They were afraid of losing their social standing. They were afraid of bad press. They were afraid that if they began to enforce the colorblind constitution, they would have to address interracial marriage next. So for the 60 disgraceful years, they made American children like me, Clarence Thomas, grow up in racial caste system because it was easier to do nothing than to do the right thing. When Americans look to Washington and wonder why it so often disappoints, it's not because there are too few people who know what is right. It's not because we lack the intellect or the capacity or the talent. It's instead because there are too few people who are willing to do what it takes to do the right thing.

23:50 To sacrifice the popularity, the flattery, the comfort, the security that are the costs of principle. It is because too few of us reflect on and reflect the courage and commitment of that final sentence in the Declaration. And so many seem to have forgotten what others have sacrificed so that this nation exists and endures.

24:13 Courage. My brothers and sisters, we are disciples of Jesus. We're disciples of Jesus. And we're citizens of this country. Which means that this is upon us. it's upon us to see that the way we see the world is shaped not by a political lens but by the word of God it's upon us, right? as citizens but as disciples of Jesus that the way we see other people comes to us from the heart of Jesus and not from a political platform as disciples of Jesus we don't look to any human being or any human institution to save us in the responsorial psalm today we said that God is our king, that the Lord God is our king and our salvation.

25:07 He alone. But we also have to have the conviction, the responsibility, and the courage to live simply and to serve simply our community and our country. That we have to love that we're able to celebrate the anniversary of our nation. the nation that God has given to us and that we care enough to see that work still needs to be completed. And this is the last thing.

25:40 It's okay to be patriotic. Even better than that, it is virtuous to be patriotic. But we need to be clear on who gets our hearts first. We're not subjects. We're also not American Catholics. We are Catholics who are American citizens. We are followers of Christ who are American citizens. And our identity comes from the fact that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the universe. He's the one mentioned in the first reading. He's the king that shall come to us. He is the one that we look to and we trust.

26:18 And because of that, because of him, in this world, no matter where we are, as citizens, not subjects. We live with conviction, responsibility, and courage.