“America the beautiful! So you sing in one of your national songs. Yes, America, you are beautiful indeed, and blessed in so many ways,” said Pope John Paul II in his 1987 visit to America.
Blessed in so many ways. Especially during November, gratitude is such an important virtue to remember. Our gratitude towards the country from which we came is what the Catechism calls a duty (CCC 2239). Similarly, to how we owe respect out of justice to our parents for providing our basic needs and upbringing, so too are we obligated as Catholics to have a love for a country that has provided us with our needs since birth. I often neglect to remember how grateful we ought to be for the freedoms our country gives us that affect our daily lives. The freedom to worship how we want and receive the education we want is something that impacts us daily at St. Benedict Classical Academy.
Of course, liberty to live the life we choose does not equal license. I will often ask students what kind of classroom environment they want to be a part of. What kind of school do they want to be a part of? What kind of city? What kind of country? It helps them to realize that the choices they make matter and impact others. The morals we instill into our children today will have a profound impact on the future. They must know that it is their duty to not only God, their school, and their family, but to their country as well to be an upstanding citizen of society by following Catholic moral teachings.
One of my favorite parts of my classroom’s morning meeting ritual is the Pledge of Allegiance. During the first few weeks of school, I will break down exactly what we are saying when we recite this promise to our country every morning. I love starting the day reminding myself and the class how much we have to be grateful for to live in this country. It is a great mystery to be indebted to something much bigger than ourselves. The Greeks had a virtue they called “pietas,” meaning love of God, love of country, and love of neighbor. When we lose one we lose them all. It makes sense given people who often deny the existence of God also deny the existence of basic human dignity. Our founding fathers deeply understood that our human rights and dignity comes from our Creator.
Our patria, or the land of our fathers, is often spoken about in our modern society as “not worth saving” or “inherently evil.” However, one of my favorite values that SBCA tries to instill in our students is that America is indeed good. It was good in its founding, and it is worth protecting now.
In a climate where the narrative is often the opposite, let us remember in gratitude and pray this Veterans Day for all who have served our great and beautiful nation. Yes, America, you are beautiful indeed.
AUTHOR: Elisabeth Packer, Grade 2 Teacher
