Today is Flag Day [in the United States]. It marks the adoption of the flag on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
Americans’ devotion to the flag has always puzzled me somewhat. I may be wrong, but I don’t think India (which is a much younger independent nation) has a similar propensity for displaying its flag everywhere.
And yet flags are important. Having just come from a pilgrimage, I know that I would have gotten lost many times had I not been able to spot our guide’s raised arm holding a red umbrella. [This guidance system worked fine until we got to the Sistine Chapel where there were at least 3 red umbrellas being held aloft!]
One of the most famous meditations in the Spiritual Exercises is called “The Two Standards.” Ignatius talks about the standard (or battle flag) of Satan and the standard of Christ. Ignatius, the former soldier, clearly remembers how, in the chaos of battle, it was important to keep one’s attention fixed on your own flag and to follow it wherever it led you.
For Ignatius, the Standard of Christ leads to a following of Christ in poverty, in contempt and in humility. From these, he argues, we can be led “to all other virtues.”
May we, who follow the flag of the United States of America, be also led to virtue.
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
The Two Standards…
As someone studying the Exercises in my grad school class, I was just reading all about them!
I am ambivalent about flags. It is not about being unpatriotic, but something… I don’t know. I am not a flag person.
My brother turns 76 on Flag Day; he is 21 years older than me if you are counting! Please say a prayer for Bill as he greets another year!
Fran,
I was, I confess, pleased that I was able to bring the Two Standards into a discussion on Flag Day.
Paul
For me the key phrase here is “to keep one’s attention fixed on your own flag and to follow it wherever it led you.” It is so easy to become distracted but we must keep our eyes on Christ & follow where he leads. As Simon might say, “easier said than done”!
Amen!
Lynda,
Keeping our attention focused is always an issue, isn’t it?
Paul
Lynda,
I think you summed it up perfectly!
By the way when we went to the Vatican, our tour guide held up Pinocchio!:)
Lynda,
Your response was so helpful
Thank you
Oh!! Oh!!! Do I ever have a song for Flag Day!!!! “White Flag” by Chris Tomlin!!! Marching music
He Rocks!! Is on You Tube (of course), also on his web site! Too kewl!!!!
We surrender all to you…
I love this song
Here’s another thought : the Jesuits can infiltrate his concerts! They’re in need of young men. They’ll find lots of them there whose hearts are on fire! He’s already lit the match and there sure are a number of young Catholics in the crowd!!
Emma,
Talk about Jesuits “infiltrating” got the Society suppressed in the 17th Century. Just sayin’
Paul
For all that people in my generation know of the Jesuits, they may as well be supressed now:( Just say’n.
Emma,
If this day gets a little less crazy, I might even be able to find him on YouTube. Thanks.
Paul
Funny you should bring this up today. I was only thinking about it yesterday when I caught some of the Jamie Dimon’s testimony. Anything anyone seems to agree or disagree with is either “American” or “unAmerican.” It reminded me of the gospels and the pharisees waxing lyrical about the rights and wrongs of the scriptures and how Jesus was a blasphemer for not following the letter of the law. Personally I don’t care what flag someone follows. We are all in this together. Love God and love your neighbour and if you love your neighbour you love God. Keep it simple.
Samuel Johnson sprang to mind; “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Oh Simon, you have hit upon something here. As an American, proud to be one, but uncomfortable with American exceptionalism, I agree. And that quote- yes!
Simon,
Sam Joh has got a good point, but there is a healthy kind of patriotism, isn’t there?
Paul
Maybe not if one uses the definition of patriotism as love of country. I love many countries.
Paul
I think of our country’s flag as something of a unifying symbol. We may not agree with our country’s policies, foriegn or domestic but somehow the flag is a visual reminder that our country is a unity of disparate parts. ( albeit and often fragile unity). I sometimes think it is more dear to us as Americans because we are so aware that our unity can not be taken for granted.
Because of our youth it may also be a secular replacement for other unifying symbols that perhapse grow organicly from other cultures and thus don’t need to be so “loud”
Gosh Maura, that was so well put – thank you for this perspective. Thank you!
Interesting. I think the flag has also been used as a symbol of division. People use it to say, “we’re the only true patriots, and our countrymen who disagree with us are un-American.” (Echoes of Simon’s comment there.)
I like to fly a flag now and then, partly to show that, although I am not affiliated with the American political sect that has tried hardest to make red, white, and blue its team colors, I am as proud as anyone of the ideals I think our country and its emblems stand for. Maybe it’s just that, in these divisive times, our symbols of unity are becoming Rorschach ink blots, and whether your neighbor thinks you are a good American or not depends on whether you see a bird or a butterfly when you look at the Constitution.
Maura,
I think I’m with Jim on this. All I see around me are attempts to divide us and to use potent symbols to do so.
Paul
I think all symbols can be used subversively and I will admit to doing so on occasion.I think it is up to us to claim them for what we mean and continue to give testimony to that as Jim says above fly the flag sometimes even when there are others who are using it in ways we may not approve of.
Along these lines have you noticed the belgium beer company who has been saying that their beer is so special it has a chalice on it and later should be served in a chalice like cup. These Ads began roughly at the same time as the changes for the new translation were coming out when those with more wisdom than I choose the word chalice instead of cup for the english words of consecration. I am willing to bet that there is a catholic or 2 in that marketing department. That being said I do think there are some symbols that are frankly irredeemable due to the evil associated with them, but let us hope that neither our flag nor our cross ever become one of those.
Flag day is important to Americans for lots of reasons (at least to those of my generation , probably). In the last century the American flag meant a lot to people who were being opressed by evil dictatorships. The U.S. flag was a symbol of freedom to those people, and U.S. soldiers understood that. If you take the time you can go into the web sites and look at all the U.S. military cemetaries in Europe – there are over 100,000 Americans buried there and they lie underneath the cross, or the star of David, and the U.S. flag.
Bob,
As you probably know, I have visited those same cemeteries and have found them deeply moving.
Paul
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Francis Scott Key
I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself. – Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior (1914 Flag Day address)
Tim,
I just wish I could sing it halfway decently.
Paul
“For Ignatius, the Standard of Christ leads to a following of Christ in poverty, in contempt and in humility. ” Can someone help me understand the use of the word “contempt” in this context?
I love to see new American’s pledging allegiance to the flag for the first time. It reminds me that, depite all our faults great and small, there are still people willing to give up everything they have known to come and join us. We have created something of value here, that they want to be part of.
I love seeing and hearing the RCIA folk join us at the vigil. We have somethingof value in this Church (whether we created it our received it) and they want to be part of it.
Happy Flag Day, everyone.
Denise,
Ignatius sets up two triads: 10 Wealth that can lead to honor that can lead to pride and 2) Poverty that can lead to contempt that can lead to humility.
Contempt, as I understand it, meant for Ignatius that, when poor, you are held in low esteem by “the people who matter” and that this can teach you true Christ-like humility.
Is this any help?
Paul
Yes — perfect. I read it at first that contempt was an attitude we were supposed to adopt — like poverty and humility — and I couldn’t make any sense out of that. Thanks!
As for singing the Star-Spangled Banner: one of the nicest things I ever read about that tune was that it demands such a ridiculous range, that no one can really sing it well all by him/herself. It takes a crowd, with everthing from lyric sopranos to bassos profundos, to get it right.
The othert thing that is supposed to help is that — well — it was originally a drinking song.
When all can recite the words “with liberty and justice for ALL”and believe in liberty and justice for ALL rather than all “just like me”: when as a nation we as a nation live “under God” rather than “under green”, then I’ll raise the flag. It seems a sacrilege of sorts that our flag used to stand for the “least of these” and is now the symbol of empire building and death of innocents around the world, while so many of our citizens turn a blind eye and continue the patriotic chants of God and country.
I remember immediately following 9/11 how every house on our block had a flag flying as a symbol of solidarity. The past Memorial Day I was telling the kids how I noticed that there weren’t as many flags flying. It made me a little sad because we are so disenchanted and so divided. Even today, my husband being the good vet he is, came home from work and put up the flag. I forgot…:(.