Church of the Madalene

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;..."

Thus begins the United States Oath of Allegiance. It is taken by all immigrants who wish to become naturalized Unites States citizens. Typically, we think of citizenship in a political sense, of civil rights and responsibilities. It can also be understood as a matter of location, such as being a citizen of a specific state of city.

Citizenship in the Old Testament carried a racial and religious meaning, as with the people of ancient Israel. To be an Israelite meant to be a descendant of Abraham and Sarah, to be one of the people chosen by God to live in sacred covenant through the Law of Moses, no matter which nation you lived in. Citizenship in the New Testament was more about ones country of origin and rights granted under civil law. St Paul the Apostle, for example, was a Roman citizen, as thereby subject to Roman law. 

As beneficial as United States citizenship can be, the Season of Lent reminds us of a different citizenship. It is no one based on race, country of origin, or political concepts. It is a citizenship rooted in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. These Paschal Mysteries, as the liturgy of the Mass calls them, are what Lent is preparing us to enter into during Holy Week and Easter. 

In the Mass for the Second Sunday of Lent this year, we hear St. Paul the Apostle tell the Church in Philippi that, "...our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." On the day of our baptism, we took vows, or our parents and godparent took them for us, to renounce sin and Satan, to be faithful to the Gospel, and thereby we were received into the Church, the Body of Christ. It was an oath of allegiance to Christ, expressing the desire to be citizens of heaven.

We are called, by God's love and mercy, to be such citizens. Yes, we live in this world where we have the rights and responsibilities of our earthly citizenship. For these, we can be proud. But in our Lenten preparation for the Paschal Mysteries we must acknowledge that the heavenly citizenship is to be our first true allegiance. On Easter Sunday, when we gather for the Mass to rejoice in the Resurrection, we will renew our vows of baptism. We will take again our oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ. 

This heavenly citizenship also has right and responsibilities. We are obligated to live by the standards of the Gospel and not those of the world. We are obligated to live by the standards of the Gospel and not those of the world. We are obligated to offer right worship, to live out he Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We are to see heaven, and not the earth, as our final goal. We are to desire nothing less than heaven itself.

Jesus, the Human face of the Father's Mercy, invites us to be citizens of heave, our true home. In the Paschal Mysteries, He calls us to mercy. He call us to repentance and conversion. He calls us to our true allegiance.
 

Fr. Bryan