SOME 250 YEARS AGO, two major events unfolded on opposite sides of what is now the United States. On the West Coast, Fr. Junípero Serra established Mission San Juan Capistrano, a landmark of California’s history and spiritual legacy. On the East Coast, the signing of the Declaration of Independence established the new nation that would eventually encompass both coasts. No one could have imagined that these two monumental events would converge in the same year that the Diocese of Orange celebrates its 50th anniversary.
As we commemorate these foundations and the birth of this nation, we are invited to reflect on how this remembrance impacts us, our families and our communities. Such reflection leads us to give thanks for the Judeo-Christian values and principles upon which our nation was founded: faith, freedom, justice and the inherent dignity of the human person.
The Pledge of Allegiance calls us back to these ideals:
“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.”
As we proclaim these words, we are struck by the beauty of the ideal they set before us. Yet this oneness, this indivisibility, has its source in God.
God is the source of unity because it comes from His very being. It is His nature. In the First Letter of John, we read, “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Our unity begins in God and finds its goal in Him, leading our hearts toward the fullness of unity that waits for us in Heaven, our final home.
Let us live out this beautiful vision by imitating the citizens of Heaven, the saints! This imitation is twofold: love of God and love of neighbor. God is calling us to love all people, even those who disagree with us politically. Perhaps we’re called to reach out to a family member who has lost connection with everyone. Maybe our call to love is something as easy as smiling at our neighbor or being patient with family. Each of us is called to discern how we can serve the poor, the abandoned and the forgotten, following the example of the saints who lived charity with heroic generosity.
As an example of this heroic love, we need only look to St. Junípero Serra, a Franciscan missionary who devoted his life to bringing the Gospel to the people of California. He founded missions that became centers of faith. He made Christ visible through his tireless love for God and others, walking thousands of miles to evangelize, teach and care for those entrusted to him. His life shows us that the saints build unity not through power or politics, but through sacrificial love and faithful service.
Decades after the missions on the West Coast advanced under St. Junípero Serra’s care, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton began her work on the opposite side of the country. She faithfully served the children of poor and immigrant families, helping to lay the foundation for Catholic education in the United States. By shaping young minds with Christian values, she helped form the moral conscience of the nation, reminding us that a nation becomes “under God” when it safeguards the dignity of others.
Our call to live as faithful citizens, inspired by the witness of the saints, is beautifully expressed in the ancient Letter to Diognetus, as found in the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours: “Christians… play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country… They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.”
May we live this identity with courage, helping our nation become ever more truly “one nation under God.”