Written by Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; you are worthy of praise; glory to you. Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever. Grant, O LORD, that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts may be pleasing to you, for you are our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Patriotism in the Christian Life
Trinity Sunday is the Feast of the thrice holy Triune God. We celebrate this day at the beginning of the Pentecost season to commemorate the very substance of the Catholic (universal) Christian faith, the nature of God Himself, and the essence of true religion – God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet one in substance – the Blessed Trinity.
If Pentecost is a season focused on the mission of the Church Militant, then Trinity Sunday is our reminder of glory of the Triune God who we worship each Sunday; with whom we should desire to live in relationship each and every day; and of whom we should eagerly tell the nations by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We likewise remember that any denial of or departure from the doctrine of the Trinity is a denial of the Gospel itself, and a departure from orthodox Christianity.
In 2024, Trinity Sunday also falls a day before our country’s celebration of Memorial Day, a day dedicated for us to remember and honor those who have died fighting to preserve the freedom of our nation. Following first principles, it is clear that proper gratitude for the noble fallen in a spirit of patriotism is a rightful expression of the Fourth Commandment, which tells us to honor our father and mother.
As Pope John Paul II articulated in his final book, “Memory and Identity,” God has ordained the nation as a “natural society,” which makes it a superset of the natural family (the smallest unit of society), and not an arbitrary construct.
God has instituted government for the ordering of society, and we can only receive the heritage of a well-ordered society through the faithful stewardship of our parents who have gone before us. A sense of patriotism is usually passed on to us by our parents as well – an affection for our traditions, our neighbors, our land, and the fruits from which we enjoy.
This means that proper gratitude and pride for one’s nation, particularly in a country as free as ours, is a natural way to honor our father and mother, and by extension, the LORD. This is how a right-ordered patriotism can fulfill the Fourth Commandment. It also points to how a right understanding of the Triune God orients us to properly honor those who gave their lives to preserve the good gifts He has given us through a healthy society.
A New Birth of Freedom
Last year, my wife and I went on a trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of the renowned Civil War battlefield bearing the same name. We went during the first week of July, which nearly coincided with the anniversary of that brutal three-day battle – a battle from July 1st through July 3rd of 1863, which ended in a Union victory and marked a critical turning point in the war. The Civil War would then rage on for another two years.
It was the first time either of us had been to Gettysburg, and by all accounts it was a sobering experience. Aside from the history, one of the most striking aspects of the park is the quiet. As you walk the grounds, retracing the steps of the combatants, you can feel the weight of history and the magnitude of loss.
It is estimated that over seven thousand men died in the Battle of Gettysburg. With over 51,000 casualties including the wounded, it was the single costliest battle of the Civil War, and more Americans were lost there than in any other single military battle in our history. When you visit the battlefield in person, you can see how the setting brings reasonable visitors to a silent reverence.
On the evening of our first day there, we took a guided tour of Gettysburg National Cemetery. This cemetery marks the approximate location where Abraham Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg Address, at the dedication of the cemetery four months after the Battle of Gettysburg, on November 19th, 1863.
The President was not even the keynote speaker for the ceremony that day. That honor went to the Honorable Edward Everett, who spoke for over two hours. Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks after Everett, treated almost as an addendum to the main speech. But Lincoln, as he always did, carefully and intentionally crafted his remarks. In some 270 words, the Abraham Lincoln delivered the greatest speech in Presidential history.
In the latter portion of that short speech, Lincoln said:
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Lincoln called upon his hearers to honor the dead, who consecrated the land with their sacrifice, by resolving to take up their cause: the hope for the nation, under God, to experience a “new birth of freedom.” The President deliberately used Biblical language to evoke the image of baptism, for he knew that if the country were to experience a new birth of freedom, it would have to be as one united in obedience to Almighty God.
We are certainly in continual, desperate need of a “new birth of freedom” nationally, but we also need a “new birth of freedom” individually. Every single one of us is called to a new birth of freedom in obedience to the Almighty. Consider the exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel:
“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.”’” (John 3:3-7)
This is our new birth of freedom: birth of water and the Spirit. When we are received into Christ’s Body by the water of Holy Baptism, we are born as a child of grace into God’s family (the Church Catholic), we receive forgiveness of original and actual sin, and we are given new life in the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we are made a new creation, made possible by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
One God, One Name
This new birth is a baptism in the Name of the Triune God; the outward and visible sign of Holy Baptism is water, in which a person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A proper baptism is always done in the Name of the Triune God – for there is no true religion in any other name.
Let us remember that any minister who insists on re-baptizing a Christian who is already validly baptized is acting outside the bounds of historic Christian orthodoxy. Likewise, to baptize a person in any name other than the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is to commit a grave heresy. The words of our Lord in the Great Commission are absolutely clear: there is baptism in only one Name, because salvation can only be found in Him.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Notice also that we do not ever refer to the “names” of the Triune God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not three different names for three different gods or three different personalities – they are the persons of the singular Godhead. We always pray in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – one Name for one God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, perfectly united in the Godhead; God is not divided; therefore, we do not address Him as divided persons. One God, one Name.
God is perfect in love, perfect in power, and perfect in wisdom. If God were not perfect in all three of these things, then our lives would be infinitely worse. Without perfect love, He would be a tyrant; without perfect power, He would be nothing more than an idea; without perfect wisdom, He would be a fool.
God, in the Holy Trinity, is perfectly united in love; the Trinity is perfect in power, love, and purity, as the great hymn proclaims. You will never hear the members of the Trinity arguing with one another; one member cannot defy or contradict another – it is a literal impossibility. God cannot make a mistake, and He cannot contradict Himself.
We also know the Holy Spirit cannot contradict itself, which means the Holy Spirit cannot tell you to do something contrary to God’s will. The Holy Spirit cannot move you to commit sin, and the Spirit cannot move two people to different conclusions that are in direct contradiction of one another. Hence the problem of trying to live a Christian life apart from Church authority.
The Memorial of Our Redemption
It is the role of the Church to be the custodian of sacred scripture, guarding pure Doctrine in reverence to the Triune God. Beloved, if we think we can wander through the wilderness apart from membership in the body of the Church, we’re dead wrong. Without submission to Church authority, we will always go astray of God’s will, and we will be all the more tempted to twist our interpretation of scripture to fit our own preferences.
On the other hand, if the Church is not faithful and diligent to guard the pure Doctrine of the most Holy Trinity, then she will likewise fall into discord, division, and sin. There is no true unity apart from the Triune God; when the Church forgets that she loses her unity and her peace. Praise be to God, you will never see the discord and division in the LORD that you see among people today.
It should come as no surprise, then, that remembrance of who God is and what He has done for us lies at the heart of our ordered worship. We see this clearly when we prepare our hearts to reverently receive the Holy Eucharist. In the prayer of consecration, the presbyter says these words:
“Recalling, O Father, Christ’s saving Death, mighty Resurrection and glorious Ascension, and awaiting his Second Coming in Divine Majesty, we celebrate now the memorial of our Redemption, offering and presenting unto you, as a humble act of praise and thanksgiving, our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice. Sanctify us by your grace for the work of ministry that we may serve you in unity, constancy, and peace.” (An Anglican Common Prayer Book, 271)
When we partake of Holy Communion, we truly celebrate the memorial of our redemption; we recall Christ’s institution of the Sacrament; and we remember that Christ died for us, as we feed on him in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving. When we so recall Christ’s saving work in our lives, and faithfully receive the Bread and Wine, we are infused with new grace from the Triune God.
And what does this grace do? What do we use it for? We use it for the work of ministry, that we may serve God in UNITY, constancy, and peace. We achieve that unity, that steadfastness, and that peace, only when we submit ourselves in obedience to the Triune God and receive the grace to do so.
Brothers and sisters, our faith and devotion to the Triune God must always lead to good works in our lives. Our prayers in the liturgy affirm this. Lex orandi, lex credendi – what we pray is what we believe.
Saint Paul also reminds us of our duty in chapter 8 of his letter to the Romans: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:16-17)
We are joined to Christ in baptism, and we are joined to Him not only in His glory, but also in His suffering. How does this happen? The grace of God empowers us to do this every week when we receive the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood; we present our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice, as a humble act of praise and thanksgiving.
Memory, Identity, and Unity
Allow me to offer one final thought on the memorial of our redemption.
When we memorialize something, we seek to preserve it. We commemorate it. We seek to memorialize those things which are necessary for the good of future generations to remember. Put another way, memory and identity are intrinsically linked. If we forget who we are, it won’t be long before we lose our identity in the future.
This is a reality for the nation, and it is true for the Church. We remember those who gave their lives for our present freedom on Memorial Day, who paid the ultimate price for that freedom, because it is central to our identity as a free nation that we remember the cost of the liberty we enjoy. When we forget the founding principles of our republic (and those who died for it) – a nation under God, as Abraham Lincoln reminded the country at Gettysburg – then we will lose our national identity and our liberty.
When we neglect to honor the noble men and women who laid down their lives to maintain the liberty and order we enjoy today, then we will take that freedom for granted, subjecting the gifts of freedom to mockery, distortion, decadence, and vice. This decay manifests in division and is the direct result of a people turning their back on the Triune God.
As the Body of Christ, we celebrate the memorial of our redemption, to remember the One who paid the ultimate price for our eternal freedom. Central to the identity of the Church is remembrance of the One who died for her, Christ the sure foundation and cornerstone. Just as the Israelites longed for the yoke of Egyptian slavery as they wandered through the desert, so will we be tempted to return to the slavery of sin if we abandon our love and reverence for the Holy Trinity.
When we as individuals neglect the sacrifice of the second person of the Trinity, the noble sacrifices of our forbears will also fade from our national memory. When the Church neglects the memory of Christ, she will also suffer disunity and disobedience in her task to fulfill the Great Commission. Without the Triune God at the center of Church or state, “things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,” to borrow from the great Irish poet, William Butler Yeats.
We cannot be united in true faith if we do not remember our redemption in the eternal Trinity – for though it was the person of Christ who died for us, He cannot be isolated from the other members of the Godhead. This is why we pray in trinitarian prayer; this is why the very first of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), in the section which describes the Catholic (universal) faith, speaks of Faith in the Holy Trinity:
“There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” (Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, 1571, I)
Ask yourself: Do you believe this?
May we never neglect to remember and honor those who gave “the last full measure of devotion” for our nation, under God, to have a new birth of freedom.
And as we move forward in Christ, may we neither forget his sacrifice, nor neglect our devotion to the Triune God, to whom Christ has joined us. May He increase in our hearts true religion and may we continue to hunger for His presence, desiring all our days to praise Him and highly exalt Him for ever. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.