In the latest installment of the “Virtue of Patriotism” series ahead of the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, Cardinal Raymond Burke said authentic love of country must be rooted in the Christian virtue of piety, describing patriotism as an expression of gratitude, duty, and ordered love shaped by a recognition of God’s providence.
>> Cardinal Burke headlines ‘Virtue of Patriotism’ series on CatholicVote.org <<
The episode, hosted on CatholicVote's Zeale for America 250 campaign page and produced by the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, shares how patriotism is not as sentiment or ideology but a moral virtue flowing from one’s relationship with God and extending to family and homeland.
“The virtue of patriotism cannot be rightly understood apart from the virtue of piety which the Holy Spirit perfects in the Christian soul,” Cardinal Burke said in the episode. “Piety is not sentiment or emotion. It is that filial disposition by which we acknowledge the truth about ourselves before almighty God.”
Drawing on the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Burke said that after God, “the greatest benefactors in our lives are our parents and our country,” since through them individuals receive “life, education, and the inheritance of culture.”
“As religion renders worship to God, so piety renders due honor to parents and homeland, recognizing in both the instruments of divine providence,” he said.
The cardinal described piety as one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, shaping how the faithful can understand their responsibilities toward others and the common good. When patriotism is informed by that virtue, he said, it is “freed from selfishness, partisanship, and ideology” and oriented instead toward “truth, justice, and charity.”
“It seeks not earthly advantage but the authentic good of the nation,” Cardinal Burke said, adding that such patriotism can strengthen families, renew society, and order civic life toward “the reign of Christ.”
Cardinal Burke closes the episode with a prayer consecrating the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, timed to the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.
The prayer invokes Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, and asks the Sacred Heart of Jesus,“Draw every heart into communion with you that your truth, love, justice, mercy, and peace may triumph in America and throughout the world.”
The series, which releases a new episode every two weeks, is available to registered users for free and includes discussion questions to foster reflection on civic responsibility and promoting the common good.