A tip of the hat to Father Mark Botzet for letting me post his homily from July 5, 2026.
I took the liberty of changing some punctuation so that it matches the style of this blog, then adding headings and paragraph breaks. Enough preface. Here’s Fr. Botzet’s homily.
Freedom and Focus
14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Fr. Mark Botzet
This Weekend the United States of America celebrates 250 years as a Nation.
With the signing of the declaration of independence, our founding fathers established this great country with a focus on God. Let us not forget that.
A country whose people would experience great freedom.
That freedom came at a great price.
And is often challenged by other countries in the world.
Remembering Zarchariah
This challenge of freedom has been going on for a long time. The Prophet Zechariah would only have dreamed of living in a great nation like ours. You see, God’s people were under the control of a foreign nation for 250 years.
Think about that. It is as long as we have been a nation. First, it was the Babylonians, next it was the Persians, then followed by the Greeks. Zechariah prophesies that there will be no more war, No more destruction, And lastly, no more being exiled from an invading country.
Zechariah talks about a new king that will make a new kingdom. This king does not ride in on a horse, instead he rides in on a donkey.
Symbolism
There is a meaning behind the horse and the donkey.
If this new king arrived on a horse it would reveal to us that he comes to rule like a warrior, conqueror, and with war.
The donkey on the other hand reveals a leader who comes with a peaceful nature.
Jesus
We all know that Jesus rolled into Jerusalem not on a horse, but on a donkey.
In the end we know that Jesus conquered the Romans by his peaceful nature. Dying on the cross and rising from the dead in the resurrection. Jesus’ teachings were not embraced at first, but the Romans would later embrace it.
The United States in Context
For the last 250 years the United States of America has held elections every four years for its president. A president that will hold office for four or eight years. Our nation has had a president that held it for longer. Compared to other countries when we change leaders it is done by a peaceful nature as power is exchanged.
We have seen this peaceful exchange challenged, but compared to what happens in other countries it is relatively peaceful. Even though our country has endured a revolutionary war and civil war in its early years.
A war, or exile, does not occur every four to eight years that would suppress all of the people in this great nation. We do not experience an invasion, conquering or war every four to eight years. We are a peaceful nation.
That is what Zachariah is talking about: a peaceful nature behind a great world power that is what God reveals to us in the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.
A Burden, But an Easy One
Jesus tells us to take up the yoke, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. The burden that Jesus talks about is the Law. Jesus gives us the law that is to follow the ten commandments.
When we follow God’s rules and regulations they might at first appear as a burden.
But, when we obey the laws of the Lord we find the burden actually becomes light. We also find great peace. These laws and regulations opens us to experience our freedom. A freedom that comes at a price of being yoked to the law.
You see, when we do not follow the law we become enslaved and indebted to sin. Yet, if we hold on to our yoke we will live in the Spirit of God that gives us life.
Celebrating Our Liberty, Pursuing Happiness, Remembering God
Our freedom comes at a price. As we celebrate 250 years, let us remember that our founding fathers founded this nation on the principles that God gives us. Let us celebrate our freedom, our liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And may we remember that our independence is not independence from God.
But that our nation trusts and depends on God.
A God whose only Son came in riding on a donkey not a horse.
A Son who did not conquer by war, Jesus our savior came in peace. Conquering our slavery caused by sin.
Dying on the cross, he revealed the resurrection and that death is not the end to life.
Celebrate, and Remember Priorities
Let us take up our yokes, follow God and his commandments.
We must increase our faith in God and his Church, as we celebrate 250 years of being a free nation. And the prophecy of Zachariah of a king coming in peace to establish a kingdom.
I want to leave you with these words of one of the Bishops—”Governments have come and gone. Presidents have been elected and unelected. Kings and queens have taken the throne, and they have been dethroned. And throughout the history of the Church, many governments have tried their best to destroy the Church… But the Church survived.”
The Church survived. Why is that? Because it kept its faith and trust in God.
May the United State of America survive another 250 years by keeping our faith and trust in God.
Catholic in America: a Layman’s Perspective
I’ve talked about being a Catholic and an American before:
- “Satan, Sin, Politics, and Making Sense Anyway” (January 3, 2026)
- “Veterans Day and Patriotism” (November 11, 2025)
- “A Mural, America, Changes, and Doing Our Job” (July 19, 2025)
- “Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic” (September 21, 2024)
- There ARE Bright Sides
Discover more from A Catholic Citizen in America
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Remembering our respective native countries’ complicated histories with conquering and being conquered, all while remembering Our Lord’s life on earth, I find myself further awed by how healthily He understands us. We can’t perfectly relate to Him, but even with His calls to virtue, He never needed us perfectly relating to Him to love us in the first place, no? Happy 250th American Independence Day, then, Father Mark and Mister Gill.