A Banner Day!

Happy Independence Day to readers in the United States! July 4, 1776, was the day we declared independence from the sovereignty of Great Britain. We celebrate, memorialize, display our nation’s flag, and we send fireworks into the sky to remind us of that pivotal day that Frances Scott Key poetically wrote about in The Star-Spangled Banner: O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?…

I’ve noticed during my morning walks that our flag is more visible as we near this day. In some sense, we believe hanging our flag identifies and unifies us, at least symbolically. I notice flags from other countries as well in my multicultural city. Often the national flag of a home country will hang just below the United States flag to identify the origin of the residents as well as honor their earned citizenship in the United States. I notice other flags that represent allegiance to causes, some noble, some not so much. Observing the increase of flags these days draws my mind to what the Sacred Scripture has to say about banners which is the ancient word for flag.

Today we celebrate this banner day in United States history because this day represents the hard-won victory over oppression and bondage. It’s probably no coincidence that the Holy Spirit has drawn my mind through the Liturgy of the Hours and the daily Mass readings this past week to consider the safety and security of my identity as God’s beloved daughter and the peace of abiding in God. Just as he led our forefathers in The Faith out of oppressive bondage in Egypt into The Promised Land, he leads us out from our own bondage to the ruler of sin and death. Diablo is one word used for Satan that gets at what oppression does to us–the accusations from the malignant enemy of our soul scatters us, dissembles us, and sends us into exile. We lose our identity because we forget who we are as God’s beloved!

It was Jesus Christ alone that waged war against the enemy of our soul once and for all, and uniting ourselves to him means every day is a banner day for us. As Catholics, we daily celebrate and memorialize the battle Jesus waged against death, hell, and the grave and his resurrection from the dead. In the worship of the Mass, we lift his victory banner in the way we worship him and in the way we live our lives. In effect, we, like Moses, build an altar of our life and name it The LORD is my banner. (Exodus 17:14,15)

We know the truth of the psalmist’s declaration: Surely, my boundaries have fallen in pleasant places…I will delight in God…I will dwell with God….my soul waits patiently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him….the praise of God is on my lips….my soul waits patiently for my God…

When we abide in God in this, our sacramental faith, the LORD leads us to where we remember who we are, and we declare with our heart, mind, and soul the beauty, goodness, and truth of our LORD. The psalmist wrote:

You have set up a banner for those who fear you

  to rally to it out of bowshot. Selah

Give victory with your right hand, and answer us

    so that those whom you love may be rescued.

Psalm 60:4,5

Why does the psalmist cue us to selah (pause) at this truth? As we rally the scattered pieces of our soul under the LORD’s banner of love, we live into the victory he has already won for us. Our identity as God’s beloved forms in us as we dwell with God. The LORD tells prophet Jeremiah to set up this banner and proclaim it, do not conceal it. (Jeremiah 50:2) We are the refugees of sin who have discovered peace under the sovereignty of the LORD God. As we carry this banner we declare the majesty and glory of the Lord and beckon the observers of our lives to unite with us to seek refuge in the spacious boundaries of the pleasant place that is our inheritance.

Friend, do you feel exiled from the goodness of the LORD’s presence? How come? What chains have been wrapped around you that bar you from believing that complete surrender to the LORD means complete freedom from oppression? The LORD’s arms are open to the refugee who seeks a home where beauty, goodness, and truth is the declaration of independence from the malignant enemy of souls. He reaches for you and me, beckoning all who are weary and heavy-laden to come to him.

I invite you to join with me in praying together with the psalmists:

Sovereign LORD, we shout for joy over your victory over death, hell, and the grave; we lift our banners in the name of our God.

We know that you’ve won the battle for us and gained the victory for us. As we celebrate and worship you in the worship of the Mass, we reach for you in your heavenly sanctuary and receive salvation by the victorious power of your hand.

Some trust in this world’s power, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. We are brought to our knees by the bondage to sin, and we fall, but because of your victory over sin, we rise and stand firm in the expanse of your bountiful land.

We declare with our heart, mind, and soul that The Lord is my Banner! You are the One under whom we are reunited with our created identity. You are our Savior; we have found refuge in you; we bear your name!

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen