Letter from the Pastor
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July 6, 2025This is of course the Fourth of July Weekend; it is the 249th year of the United States of America.
We should be most grateful to God for our country, despite its many troubles. God has indeed blessed America. Hopefully, we will always be good and patriotic citizens, for we are blessed. Teaching our young to be patriotic is most important as well.
Patriotism is a virtue flowing from the cardinal virtue of Justice. We can never “pay-back” the freedoms, the sacrifices, and loyalty to our nation. Patriotism acknowledges one’s nation is never perfect, and yes America as a nation has made mistakes, some great errors in fact; however, in spite of its sins, we are willing to sacrifice to make our nation even better, more just, more honorable under God.
July 4th also marks the beginning of vacation time, a time of leisure, a time to relax and enjoy the summer with family and friends. School is out, (unless of course, you are attending summer school), planning vacations, and waiting for the hazy, crazy, lazy days of July and August.
With the summer comes the hot weather and we all need to be mindful of how we dress, especially when we are not at the beach or pool.
Modesty is one of the lost virtues of our fallen world. Modesty flows from the cardinal virtue of Temperance, which is the virtue that helps us moderate our desires. Temperance helps us to not over-indulge our desires and to act according to reason. For example, we use temperance to not eat or drink too much or too little and to be modest in our fashions.
Sadly today, so many young and (even sadder when the not so young) dress in a very immodest way. The virtue of modesty is not a negative; rather it is an encouragement to dress appropriately with respect to the occasion, in honor of our body, and with sufficient material! Modesty in dress is being honest in our outward apparel. This applies to men and women, boys and girls. What we wear portrays something to others about who we are and what we are doing. Save the beach wear for the beach, the gym wear for the gym.
Modesty, like most virtues are taught in the home. When I see some young people half-dressed, leaving nothing to the imagination, I wonder, where are their parents? How can a father allow his daughter out of the house dressed like that, a mother her son?
Walking on the streets is one issue; the other is how people come to Mass. The Mass should be the last place someone is confronted with an occasion of sin. For the most part, our parishioners are very respectful. However, it is good to be reminded what is appropriate to wear in God’s House.
Immodest dress at Mass is not a comfort problem, but a spiritual one. The mentality that “it’s nobody’s business what I wear for Mass—God knows my heart” reflects a lack of humility and a poor understanding of what’s actually happening at Mass. It also shows a lack of respect for others, disregarding how our immodest dress can become an occasion of sin.
The Church should not be a place where temptation and sin should abound, where sexual distractions should be permitted to compete with our Lord who is present in the sacrament of the altar. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer at Mass, we say, “And lead us not into temptation.” Don’t be a tempter!