National Treasures

Appreciating our natural and national treasures

07/04/2024

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

There’s an old adage that states: “foreigners know the land better than the natives do.” What does that mean? Well, we have so many national and natural treasures in this country – such as Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith! – but often we are far more excited to visit a foreign country and see their natural and national treasures.

Not infrequently, people ask me why my family came to the United States from India. I am always surprised by that question because I wonder: why wouldn’t someone want to come to this country? I know such people are well-meaning and maybe only trying to make conversation, but in my mind that question betrays a glaring lack of awareness of the blessings of living in the United States.

Yesterday I was having lunch with a friend who helped me organize our Honduras mission trips several years ago. We were reminiscing over how much we learned to appreciate our blessings in the U.S. when we saw the extreme poverty and plight of people in other countries. In other words, we could see the United States almost as if through their eyes, and we were overwhelmed by how blessed we are. Foreigners know the land better than the natives do because they can see the land as if for the first time and so do not take it for granted.

Since today is Independence Day, let me invite you to see one of our greatest national treasures, the Declaration of Independence, through the eyes of a foreigner, namely, me, a priest from India. You know perhaps the most famous line from the Declaration. It goes: “We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Now, in my native country of India – at least in most rural areas – the prevailing social structure is called the caste system. That is, each person is born into one of five castes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, or Dalits, also known as the Untouchables. That is, you are born, you will live, and you will die in that caste. So, there is no social mobility, no rags to riches stories. Cinderella never meets Prince Charming in India.

Thus in 2017 when India elected Ram Nath Kovind as president from the Dalits, the Untouchables caste, it marked nothing less than a cultural revolution. But here in the United States anyone can run for president – and by the way, they do! In other words, what we Americans take for granted – that all men and women are created equal – would spark revolutions in other countries. Foreigners know the land better than the natives do.

My friends, even though we should take time to cherish our natural and national treasures in this great land, nonetheless, we should never forget our true homeland is heaven. As St. Paul reminded the Philippians in the first reading today: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And in the gospel Jesus urges us to fulfill our earthly duties while never forgetting our heavenly destiny, saying: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” In a spiritual sense, we are all foreigners here on earth no matters what country we call home – Honduras, India, or America – and therefore we should consider ourselves first and foremost patriots of Paradise.

Today on July 4, I hope you will enjoy some of the blessings of living in this extraordinary nation that we call the United States of America. Visit family and friends, grill hamburgers and hotdogs, shoot fireworks, swim and ski, and so forth. And if you have the time and interest, I would highly recommend you watch the HBO series called “John Adams” about the Revolutionary War and writing the Declaration of Independence.

But you know, sometimes it is only by hearing a homily preached by a priest from India that can help Americans to fully recognize the greatness of their own nation. Why? Because, as everyone knows: foreigners know the land better than that natives do.

Praised be Jesus Christ!