Jul 4 – Memorial for St. Elizabeth of Portugal
Elizabeth (1271-1336) was a princess with a pious upbringing who became Queen of Portugal before she was a teenager. Elizabeth suffered through years of her husband’s abuse and adultery, praying all the while for his conversion, and working with the poor and sick. She rode onto the battlefield to reconcile her family members twice; once between her husband and son when they clashed in civil war, and between her son and his son-in-law years later, preventing bloodshed. This led to her patronage as a peacemaker, and as one invoked in time of war and conflict.
- Patron Saint Index
Gen 23:1-4,19;24:1-8,62-67
Mt 9:9-13
“What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.”
One of my favourite works of art is Norman Rockwell’s ‘Freedom from Want’. Even if you don’t know what it’s called, you will likely have seen it. The picture of a family, gathered around an abundant dinner table, the matriarch holding a roast turkey, the patriarch beaming with pride, their family around them, smiling and joyful. Not so well known, is that the painting is part of a series called ‘The Four Freedoms’ (Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear), inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. In its time, ‘Freedom from Want’ was an effective piece of propaganda to promote family, peace and unity, during the turbulent years of World War 2. An ideal of American life, held up for weary Americans to aspire to. We had just entered a war. We were carrying the scars from The Great Depression. Families and communities were reeling. We were trying to find ourselves as a nation.
America seems a rather bleak place today and again, as a nation, we are trying to find ourselves. So many of us are not able to speak freely for fear of retribution. We are afraid to worship, except amongst members of our own tribes. Hate crimes happen so regularly, that many of us live in fear. And want has become a normal part of everyday life, with inflation and the high cost of housing, shackling many of us. We all want better than this, but nobody seems to know where to start. Maybe we muddle through, and succeed, maybe we don’t. Maybe we get some of the way there, but fail a lot while trying?
Today is July 4th, Independence Day, for those of us who are Americans. Our liberation from the British began as a motley rebellion in the colonies, with a healthy dose of propaganda thrown in to the mix. Lots of things needed to align exactly and, by God’s grace, quite a lot of them did. We prevailed, despite our lack of experience, our poorly resourced efforts, and our terrible weather. But we leveraged our small wins, to bolster our spirits on to bigger ones. Americans are optimistic people. Above all else, that is our enduring trait – we try to see the good, and once upon a time, we tried to be the good.
I want to believe that we have it in us to do that again – to see the good, and to be the good. I want to believe that we have it in us, to put our communities and our country’s unity, before our own petty ego-dramas. I am a first-generation immigrant. To paraphrase John Cougar Mellencamp, I love God, and I love this country. I came here because in America, it is noble to fight for our freedoms. In America, our optimism is our best trait. In America, we strive to be the good; and even when we fail, there is no dishonour because we failed whilst striving. I know it is very ‘current’ to be cynical, to point out where the cracks and failures are, but Christ was a force for unity, and I think he would have sought common ground. If he walked our streets today, I think he would gather all to his table, regardless of our tribal affiliations. And perhaps that is what we should do this 4th of July. Maybe Norman Rockwell was on to something after all!
(Today’s OXYGEN by Sharon Soo)
Prayer: We pray for unity in our families, our communities and our country. May God grant us the grace to let our better angels prevail.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our country. God bless America and the Americans who defend her and her freedoms, domestically and abroad.
OXYGEN 
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