{"id":1536,"date":"2007-07-04T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-04T07:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/homily-for-july-4-2007-independence-day.html"},"modified":"2007-07-04T07:04:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-04T07:04:00","slug":"homily-for-july-4-2007-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/homily-for-july-4-2007-independence-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for July 4, 2007: Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Sunday, when I mentioned to Fr. Anthony that I\u2019d be off today, and would attend this mass, he asked me if I\u2019d like to preach, because he thought it more appropriate that an American preach on the Fourth of July. <\/p>\n

I was touched, but I almost think it would actually be more appropriate for Fr. Anthony to preach. He has the advantage of seeing our country with fresh eyes. And, as some of you know, this will be his last Fourth of July with us. He\u2019s leaving next month, to return to the Czech Republic. He will be celebrating THEIR independence day next year. (Which I\u2019m sure will be wonderful, even though they don\u2019t have the Macy\u2019s fireworks…) <\/p>\n

But he got me to thinking: despite differences of language or nationality, are we really all that<\/i> different? What we celebrate today is what all people strive for, what every heart hungers for. Freedom. That is a sentiment every one knows — Fr. Anthony, especially. He spent much of his life behind the Iron Curtain, under communist rule. We who have enjoyed freedom our whole lives perhaps can\u2019t appreciate it the way he does, the way anyone does, who has had freedom limited or even taken away. <\/p>\n

Yesterday, the British journalist Alan Johnston was freed in Gaza after 16 weeks of being held captive by kidnappers. He described his captivity this way: \u201cIt was really grim,\u201d he said, \u201clike being buried alive. Countless times I dreamed of being free.\u201d <\/p>\n

How many people around the world share the same dream, in different ways, in different circumstances? Captives of ideologies, or causes. But we in America are living that dream. We are truly blessed. <\/p>\n

This morning, we come to God in thanksgiving and in joy, celebrating the life of freedom we have been given in this country. <\/p>\n

If you talk with Fr. Anthony, you will hear him use two phrases again and again, to describe a variety of things: \u201cVery nice.\u201d And \u201camazing.\u201d I think this priest from the Czech Republic understands what America is about better than he realizes. Those words could describe our country \u2013 and I can\u2019t put it more eloquently than that.<\/p>\n

God has blessed America. Let us thank him for giving us this land, and this freedom. Because it is all \u201cvery nice.\u201d And it is all \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, when I mentioned to Fr. Anthony that I\u2019d be off today, and would attend this mass, he asked me if I\u2019d like to preach, because he thought it more appropriate that an American preach on the Fourth of July. 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