Saturday, September 17, 2016

Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 1-2

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

Faith triumphs in trouble. Christian life is a life that trusts in God’s love rather than seeking to make ourselves clean as the Pharisees. We put self-justification and self-righteousness in the background and know peace with God for Christ has purchased our redemption with his blood. By our faith we become citizens of the kingdom of heaven owing our true allegiance to Christ, through His church whose head is the Pope. Although we are in the world we are not of it. We are faithful citizens of our nation but God’s citizen first.

Constitution Day[1]

Constitution Day commemorates the adoption of the United States Constitution and celebrates the citizens of the United States.  The Constitution was written because the existing charter of government, known as the Articles of Confederation, had resulted in creating a weak and ineffective central government.  The Constitution defines the supreme law of the United States, with each article of the constitution pertaining to aspects such as the congress, president, judicial system, interrelationship between the state and federal government and process of amendments to the Constitution. James Madison, Oliver Ellsworth, Nathaniel Gorham, Alexander Hamilton, William Johnson, Rufus King, Gouverneur Morris, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington wrote the Constitution.  Constitution Day originally began in 1939 with the suggestion of a holiday to celebrate American Citizenship. President Harry Truman then declared that the third Sunday of May become I am American Day. A decade later, 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower changed the date to coincide with the signing of the Constitution and renamed it Citizenship Day. Constitution or Citizenship Day is observed annually on September 17th, the same day as the US Constitution was signed in 1787.

Constitution Day Facts & Quotes

• The 225th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution was celebrated in 2012.  Of all international constitutions written, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest.
• The Constitution is a short document with only 4,543 words before the amendments.  In contrast, the Bible is approximately 20 times longer, while Harry Potter has approximately 70,000 more words.  
• More than 11,000 amendments have been proposed in Congress.  However, only 27 amendments received approval to become official amendments to the Constitution.
• The words God and Democracy are not found in the United States Constitution.
• Today is a big step in our march toward equality.  Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else.  #Love Wins -tweet by President Barack Obama on June 26, 2015.  This after US Supreme Court ruled on this day that same-sex marriage is a right protected by the United States Constitution.

You can see by the last bullet that as Christ’s own we may not be able to be faithful to both our nation and our faith; there may come a time in this nation that we may have to choose.

Marriage and Same-Sex Unions[2]

A growing movement today favors making those relationships commonly called same-sex unions the legal equivalent of marriage. This situation challenges Catholics—and all who seek the truth—to think deeply about the meaning of marriage, its purposes, and its value to individuals, families, and society. This kind of reflection, using reason and faith, is an appropriate starting point and framework for the current debate. Marriage is a basic human and social institution. Though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, it did not originate from either the church or state, but from God. Therefore, neither church nor state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage. Marriage, whose nature and purposes are established by God, can only be the union of a man and a woman and must remain such in law. In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society, especially through the procreation and education of children. The union of husband and wife becomes, over a lifetime, a great good for themselves, their family, communities, and society. Marriage is a gift to be cherished and protected.

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[1] http://www.wincalendar.com/Constitution-Day

[2] http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/questions-and-answers-about-marriage-and-same-sex-unions.cfm