By Monsignor Joseph F. Schaedel,
Pastor St. Luke Catholic Church Indianapolis
Fourth of July Homily
Philippians 4: 6-9; John 14: 23-29
July 4, 2023
Perhaps the most famous symbol for our nation—other than the flag—is The Statue of liberty. It was a gift from France to America, commemorating the two nations’ friendship and shared love of freedom. The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886. The famous poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, is mounted in bronze inside the pedestal. It begins, “Give me your tired, your poor; Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”[1]
This famous statue has towered not just over New York Harbor and the millions of immigrants who passed by, but also over Americans’ view of themselves. It is a symbolic representation of our country’s foremost ideal: individual liberty. That value of freedom is paramount in the minds of most Americans. And it is the source of much controversy today when one feels individual freedom is being threatened.
Yet what most people don’t know is that around 75 years after the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, another statue was proposed; its “twin” so to speak. The proposal was that this “twin statue” be erected on the other side of the country in San Francisco Bay. It was called the Statue of Responsibility. It was meant to symbolize the flipside of America’s prized virtue, the inherent obligations that come with a free society.
The whole thing was the brainchild of Viktor Frankl. He was, a psychologist, who was deported from Vienna to the first of four concentration camps, where his father died of pneumonia, his mother and brother were gassed and his wife died of typhus. He ended up in Auschwitz before he was liberated.
Reflecting on all he had been through; Viktor Frankl wrote that Freedom is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom can even become negative unless it is considered under the light of responsibility. Freedom can easily degenerate into relativism or arbitrary morality unless it is lived in terms of being a responsible person. That is why he recommended that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.
But of course, this project has yet to take off.[2]
But statue or no statue, the truth remains that liberty brings responsibility; that with freedom comes the need for self-control and an obligation to think of others, not just oneself. That is what Frankl alluded to when he wrote that freedom is “only part of the story and half of the truth”.
Saint Paul, in the first reading, would describe truth and freedom as “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious.[3] Then he says that what comes from that freedom is the peace of God.[4]
So today, as we give God thanks for the freedom we enjoy as citizens of this great land, keep in mind that any or all of these freedoms can be threatened by a lack of responsibility. And our first responsibility is to God. When we all recognize this, when we all fulfill our God-given responsibilities toward Him and one another, then for sure, yes, God will bless America!’
[1] Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus (New York, NY, 1883)
[2] https://ryanholiday.net/why-we-need-a-statue-of-responsibility/ (July 3, 2023)
[3] Philippians 4:8
[4] Cf. Philippians 4:9