America the Beautiful

This year the United States celebrates 250 years since it declared independence. It has been a difficult anniversary to embrace: the country feels like it's tearing apart, that democracy is waning, that we're falling further and further away from the ideals of its founding.  

But I do think the ideals are worth celebrating. Our founding broke all the preconceptions of what made a nation. Forged on paper, wholly new, established on ideals and ruled by the people. The Declaration of Independence asserts that people have natural rights, endowed by their Creator. We have the right life, to liberty, to pursue our happiness. We have the right, even the duty, to overthrow tyrants. We have the right to form our own form of government and challenge and change it as needed. 

This new country would have no kings, no nobility, no inherited titles. Lawmakers would be decided by an ever-expanding electorate of the citizens. Their power would come from the consent of the governed. No one person, not even one branch of government would have total control; there would be checks and balances to ensure that justice ruled over might. The purpose of the government would not be one of top-down power but of securing the rights and security of all its people. 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Today is the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion is getting extra attention this year as the U.S. bishops consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart yesterday as part of their observance of the country’s 250th anniversary. The feast is celebrated on the third Friday following Pentecost.

The devotion of the Sacred Heart is a newer devotion, though it can be traced back to older devotions of the wounds of Christ and His redemptive love. The Sacred Heart focuses on Jesus' immense, boundless, and sacrificial love for humanity. In 1673, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun in France, began having visions. Over the next few years, these visions revealed to her the devotion of the Sacred Heart.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted as a pierced or bleeding heart surrounded by flames, crowned with thorns, with a cross on top. Each element has its own meaning. The pierced heart represents Jesus’ humanity, His love, and the pouring forth of His grace. The flowing blood represents his pierced side, blood and water flowing like His outpouring of mercy. Blood and water also represent the elements of the sacraments Eucharist and baptism. The flames represent the burning desire for humanity to be reconciled to Him. The crown of thorns represents His sacrifice and suffering for humanity. The cross represents our redemption through His suffering.

While I don’t have a particular devotion to the Sacred Heart, I do find it interesting to learn about different devotions and reflect on the symbology. There are so many ways to view and reflect on Jesus; as Pope Leo XIV recently said in Magnifica Humanitas,  “the truth of the Gospel…can also be illustrated by the image of a multifaceted polyhedron, in which the one truth of the Gospel is reflected from different angles.”

For the Game. For the World.

This week begins the World Cup, hosted here in North America. Like the Olympics, the World Cup is one of the few times I get deeply invested in sports. There is something about the international commonality of everyone watching and rooting for their country that I find hopeful and peaceful. It seems to dilute cultural and political differences, if only superficially and momentarily.

And that unity was the intention of the founder of the World Cup, Jules Rimet (for whom the championship trophy is now named after). Football (soccer) had been gaining massive popularity in the early 1900s, and it had been played as an Olympic sport for several years. However, FIFA wanted to hold a tournament separate from the Olympics that would allow professional players.

Rimet was FIFA president at the time and worked to bring the World Cup to fruition. He had a deep belief that sport could be used to bring peace. Rimet was born in eastern France in 1873, a place and time massively affected by industrialization and political upheaval.

When Rimet was 17, Pope Leo XIII released Rerum novarum, the encyclical on the dignity of work and worker’s rights. In the encyclical, Leo XIII discusses the importance of men having the time and freedom to gather in associations for the support one another and the good of society (RN 50). Rerum novarum also discusses the need for proper rest; men need rest from labor both for physical recuperation and spiritual nourishment (RN 42).