What does it mean and what does it take to secure a blessing for the next generation?

That’s a fitting theme for reflection this week for a number of reasons.

First, because we celebrate our freedom as a nation this week. “[To] secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” is one of the great phrases of the Preamble to the Constitution. What does it mean and what does it take to secure that blessing?

We know what it means to hand on an addiction; that’s the opposite of handing on freedom. But freedom also doesn’t mean “doing whatever I want with no consequences.” That’s “license,” not freedom — though license sometimes masquerades as freedom in today’s world. If license means doing whatever I want, freedom means growing in virtue. Previous generations made sacrifices to secure our freedom. Are we honoring that sacrifice by growing in virtue, or are we simply doing whatever we want and calling that freedom? What will it take for us to secure the blessing of liberty — genuine freedom, not simply license — for ourselves and our posterity?

Interestingly, “securing a blessing for the next generation” is also one of the main themes of the readings this week. Abraham, before he dies, is careful to secure a blessing for his son, Isaac. Isaac, before he dies, hands on his blessing to his son, Jacob.

These biblical characters lived in a fallen world, just as we do, so the passing on of the blessing was not without flaws! We can be honest about that and try to avoid their errors. But we also need to emulate this fact: They were deliberate in handing on the blessing of the covenant with God to the next generation. What will it take for us to hand on the blessing of faith to the next generation?

One of the things it takes is the development of a genuinely Catholic imagination. This is one of the reasons for the success of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program: It develops a new imagination in children. We need to take a page from that book!

Many Americans under the influence of advertising have come to hold instinctively that “newer is better.” A Catholic imagination doesn’t buy that, knowing that our faith is filled with ancient treasures. Many Americans, under the influence of entertainment, have come to hold instinctively that power is primarily a matter of money, politics or physical force; a Catholic imagination doesn’t buy that, knowing that service is a far deeper and more lasting source of power. Many Americans tend to hold instinctively that independence is the ideal for human living; a Catholic imagination doesn’t buy that, looking instead to the interdependence of the communion of saints and the unity within the Body of Christ as the ideals for human living.

St. Paul exhorts us: “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). As Americans we’ve received freedom as a gift, and we should treasure that gift! To secure that gift for ourselves and our posterity, however, we have to be careful to develop an imagination that doesn’t compromise what genuine freedom means to us as Catholics.