Greetings from Fr. Dave

Happy 4 ^th of July Weekend! I hope you and your pets survived all the fireworks. Each year when I find myself annoyed at the amount of “illegal” fireworks going off, I remind myself to be grateful they are all fake — not really wartime artillery going off! Thank you to all our vets, and all who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms we enjoy. God bless our country!

A friend of mine sent over a quote from a book written by Alexander Fraser Tytler (1748-1813). His book was written about an ancient democracy — in Athens — long before American democracy had been really tested. In his book, he noted a progression in democracy that follows this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith; 
From spiritual faith to great courage; 
From courage to liberty; 
From liberty to abundance; 
From abundance to selfishness; 
From selfishness to complacency; 
From complacency to apathy; 
From apathy to dependency; 
From dependency back into bondage.

 

Sobering isn’t it?  May democracy in the United States prove otherwise!   
 

 
Last week, funeral services were held for Robert Cruz and Perla Ortega. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace.