Independence Day, 2016

We just finished Mass. Like Thanksgiving, we have one Mass today, bilingual - though skewed English. Unlike Thanksgiving, when the crowd rivals a Christmas day turnout, not many were in attendance.  It's the first year we're trying this, so it might take a year or two to catch on. Also, many of our parishioners have begun their summer vacations already, and are off to Mexico, Texas and Michigan, among other destinations. 

As I wrote the, Mass was bilingual. For us that usually means a smattering of English amid the readings and prayers done in Spanish. Most of our adult parishioners are Spanish speaking, and it makes the most sense to make that the dominant language. But the new Roman Missal has a Mass specifically for Independence Day in the US, so we used those prayers, which are only in the English US addition. 

They are beautiful prayers. The collect reads:

Father of all nations and ages, we recall the day when our country

claimed its place among the family of nations; 

for what has been achieved we give you thanks,

for the work that still remains we ask your help,

and as you have called us from many peoples to be one nation,

grant that, under your providence, 

our country may share your blessings

with all the peoples of the earth.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

The prayer over the gifts goes as such:

Father, who have molded into one our nation,

drawn from the peoples of many lands;

grant, that as the grains of wheat become one bread

and the many grapes one cup of wine,

so before all others be instruments of your peace.

The Prefes continues:

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks,

Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,

through Christ our Lord.

He spoke to us a message of peace

and taught us to live as brothers and sisters.

His message took form in the vision of our founding fathers

as they fashioned a nation

where we might live as one.

His message lives on in our midst

as our task for today

and a promise for tomorrow.

The prayer after Communion sums up:

May the love we share in this Eucharist, heavenly Father,

flow in rich blessing throughout our land

and by your grace may we as a nation

place our trust in you

and seek to do your will.

Through Christ our Lord.

I felt a welling up of emotion as I prayed the collect. I was afraid that I was going to break down, to be completely honest. I experienced a deep feeling of patriotism, but not in any jingoistic way. The prayer acknowledges that we are one among the family of nations, not above them. At the same time we are unique. The prayers in general stress that we have been called to form one nation out of many different peoples. 

I'm not sure an experiment such as this has ever been tried before. This is what American exceptionalism means to me: that people come from far and wide, bring their traditions and customs, not so much melting them into an indistinguishable pot of molten goo, but placing them on the communal table, where they are shared, transformed, as well as transforming what came before. American culture is constantly being affected by the various immigrant groups that arrive. As an American of Italian descent who has visited the Old Country, I can say that being an Italian American is something distinct. I am an American, but hold a treasure different from my countrymen and women of different backgrounds. This doesn't change the fact that when I go to Italy I know that, no matter how much I love it and my family there, I am not Italian. My values have been shaped by Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, not Garibaldi and Mazzini. 

As Mass ended, and we were processing out, I was again overcome with emotion. I feel as if something is slipping away right now. I am not ready to say that the American Experiment has failed, but it seems to be stalling. We are splintering at a time when we need unity more than ever. The ideals that have guided the country are good, but also need purification. We are locked into an individualism that will destroy us if we aren't careful. We are trapped in a materialism that is turning us inward, making us blind to the world around us, and needs of others. 

My prayer for today comes from the hymn America the Beautiful, which reminds us of our blessings, thanks God for them but also beseeches the Lord:

America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

America! America! May God thy gold refine 

Till all success be nobleness, 

And ev’ry gain divine!