On the Statue of Liberty we read
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"[1]
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"[1]
As we celebrate our nation's foundation, we might recall that first principle and foundation at the basis of our annual experiences of the Spiritual Exercises at White House.
Ignatius invites us, Christ challenges us, to acknowledge our true interdependence upon God and on each other,
to grow each year in the true freedom of service as persons for others, as a nation for others.
He invites us to pledge our allegiance to our crucified God, growing out of our preoccupations with riches, honor, pride,
to follow him in the humility, shame, humiliation
of his wondrous, compassionate love.
Our true liberty is freedom from inordinate attachments, freedom for unconditional love, especially of Gods' poor, huddled masses.
God's true fireworks are not just a one day spectacle in the sky and loud booms in our ears.
Rather, our mandate from the Spiritual Exercises is to go and set the world on fire, with Ignatius' "suscipe" prayer "take and receive" as our pledge of allegiance.
Edward B. "Ted" Arroyo, SJ
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