The following is a homily delivered by Father Jay on January 22, 2017
This past Friday (January 20, 2017,) President Barack Obama stepped down from the Office of President of the U.S.A. and President-elect Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the U.S.A.
Change the
names a bit, and today’s
second reading from the First Century Letter of St. Paul the Corinthians
could well apply to our nation in the 21st Century. On the one hand,
our Nation is so great, so beautiful, so wonderful, and yet, on the other hand,
it is so angry, so divided.
But since
the earliest day of our Nation, from the time of our founding fathers and
mothers there have been serious disagreements and divisions. There has been so
much violence and hatred, tragedy and killing. It is so true - whether we are
talking about the 21st Century, or the 1900s, the 1800s with its terrible
Civil War, or the days before and after American Revolution.
With all of
the very real and important differences and disagreements between them,
President Obama and President Trump did continue our Nation’s great tradition
of the peaceful transfer of power.
Whatever our
political, personal, religious, reasoned or emotional views, beliefs and
differences are, I believe that we, and all of us, in our beloved United States
of America need to hear and do our very best to help others to be – as St. Paul
wrote nearly 2,000 years ago – UNITED in the same mind and the same purpose. As
I said - here we change the names – BUT HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. DO NOT SAY "I
belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos,” or "I belong to
Cephas.”
Sisters and
Brothers, these next words are familiar to us, and in this year 2017, I urge
you, and I urge myself, to resolve to do and speak what we can to help the
American Dream be even more real in our time:
"I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all."
