Dear Friends,
Religious Freedom Week concluded this past Thursday on the solemn feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29. This US Bishops’ initiative invited us to reflect on the gifts and challenges to Religious Freedom in our modern world, both at home and worldwide. Religious Freedom is rooted in human nature created byGod and therefore is a fundamental human right. It invites us to build a culture of respect and dignity for human persons by sharing the truth and seeking God.
“In [his encyclical] Deus caritas est [God is Love], Pope Benedict XVI noted that “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (no. 1). Faith gives the Christian a vision to see the world anew, or rather, aright. Thus, the Pope-emeritus also wrote that faith liberates reason from its blind spots (no. 28). Sin clouds our vision, leading to blind spots that only Jesus Christ in the gift of faith can heal. By availing ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we allow Christ to purify our vision; and, serving others in God’s love through evangelization, we participate in Christ’s mission to help others come to see things as they are.”
As we celebrate Independence Day and the birth of our nation, may we realize all the more the commission we have received from Jesus Christ. He has sent us to be instruments of His grace to help our brothers and sisters into true freedom and liberation from the blind spots of sin. We are to work to enable ourselves and others to see the world aright, according to the eyes and plans of God ~ always respectfully, peacefully, and joyfully.
As Saint Paul reminds us, this weekend, “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” Baptized in Christ, it is this new life, received through grace, that we seek to share with all our brothers and sisters. Come, O Holy Spirit, lead and guide us always and in every way.
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
