Growing up, I was affectionately called a bicentennial baby, sharing my birth year with the United States’ two-hundredth anniversary. As a child, I inherited stories of American heroes and dreams. We said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the National Anthem, and offered a moment of silence before school began, and this was in a public school. This instilled in me deep patriotism for my country of origin. It is safe to say I have always “loved Jesus and America too” (source).

This year, I reached a consequential milestone in my life. Turning fifty causes one to pause and ponder, looking back as well as looking forward.

And today, as the United States celebrates its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, I find myself recognizing that it is more than a celebration. As flags fly, fireworks explode, and families gather, the semiquincentennial is also a moment to reflect not only on my country’s understanding of freedom, but also on my own.

What does freedom truly mean? Who gave us the freedom we can so easily take for granted? And how can we grow in gratitude, not only for freedom in America but for the deeper spiritual freedom found in Christ?

Patriotism as Gratitude, Not Idolatry

Patriotism is a sense of gratitude for our common home. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “[t]he love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity” (§ 2239). It is our “essential duty” to love our country, as expressed by Pope Leo XIII (Sapientiae Christianae, para. 11).

As Americans, we should be grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, including worshiping as Catholics, sharing our viewpoints, and voting for our elected representatives. It is also proper to honor those who have defended these freedoms, especially those who sacrificed their lives.

However, patriotism is never meant to surpass love of our heavenly home and the Fountainhead from which our freedom springs forth. In fact, patriotism becomes distorted when detached from God, Who is the giver of all gifts, including American freedoms: “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). Thus, if we do not love God first, we cannot possibly love our country rightly. 

The Saints teach a right order to our loves, an ordo amoris. In The City of God, Saint Augustine “discusses the importance of ordering our loves correctly” (source). Saint Thomas Aquinas expands on Augustine, specifying a certain order to our loves: God, self, and neighbor, following Jesus’ commandment in Matthew 22:37-40. Aquinas explains that “within the love of neighbor exists an order of love according to the degree of nearness” (source):

• Family
• Neighbor
• Community
• Country
  

We do not love our country less by loving God first. No nation—not even a good one—can occupy the place that belongs to God alone. Rather, patriotism becomes virtuous when it flows from gratitude rather than ideology, and when love of country never eclipses love of God.

In this capacity, “God bless America” is not an empty statement but an invocation that recognizes God’s prominence in our patriotism.

America Protects Freedom, But God is Its Source

One of the great blessings of America is freedom.

The First Amendment guarantees five foundational freedoms for all U.S. citizens:

• Religion
• Speech
• Press
• Assembly
• Petition

To consider that not every country offers such freedom is a sobering reality and a reason for gratitude.

While our government can uphold these rights under the Constitution, and laws can recognize and defend liberty, even these freedoms ultimately come from God. Our nation acknowledges that our unalienable rights are “endowed by their Creator” and rooted in the dignity of being created in God’s image (see Genesis 1:27).

Cultural Freedom Versus Freedom in Christ

America’s founders understood freedom as requiring virtue, but modern culture often understands freedom as independent from moral authority.

Over the course of my lifetime, I have watched our national understanding of freedom shift. Cultural definitions of freedom have become increasingly centered on individual autonomy: the belief that we can do whatever we want, however we want, without restraint.

Yet the more freedom is pursued without limits, the more anxious, lonely, and spiritually restless we become.

Our faith teaches that true freedom does not come from unlimited self-expression, but from belonging completely to Christ: I am free to become who God created me to be. Thus, in Christ, we find freedom from anxiety, loneliness, and spiritual restlessness.

As Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought” (source).

And while cultural freedom is fragile—nations rise and fall, laws change, rights can suddenly feel threatened—spiritual freedom can never be taken away: “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). The martyrs and Saints have witnessed this interior freedom even when imprisoned and persecuted.

A Prayer for America at 250 Years

As our nation marks two hundred and fifty years of freedom, Catholics have a unique opportunity to contemplate American liberty as a profound gift—but not the highest good. We can witness to a deeper freedom no government can grant and no earthly power can remove.

As Christians, we are called to love our country—but never to worship it. Our political identities are always secondary to our identity in Christ. Our Catholic faith transcends national boundaries entirely because the Church is universal. We belong to a family in Christ that is larger than any political party, earthly government, or nation. We “are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Thus, we can love our country sincerely while remembering that our highest allegiance belongs to Christ, Who alone offers the freedom the human heart truly desires. Yes, America is worthy of our gratitude and loyalty. But only God is worthy of our first love.

Today, let us offer America more than a celebration; let us give her faithful hearts rooted in truth, gratitude, and the Gospel message of freedom.

Together, let us pray for:

• national humility
• wisdom
• protection of religious liberty
• unity
• renewed faith

May America continue to protect freedom, but may we never forget the God from Whom all freedom flows.