PODCAST | On Patriotism
As we celebrate Independence Day in the USA (July 4th), Fr. Javier del Castillo invites us to pause and pray about the role, purpose, and good of temporal authorities and why the right ordering of society should be built upon reason and natural law.
What you’ll hear:
– What Jesus taught about temporal authorities
– How Joseph obeyed government laws and traveled for the census, even though Mary was pregnant
– How Jesus was subject to the authority of Mary and Joseph
– When St. Paul had recourse to his Roman citizenship
– How the state should help us fulfill the mandate to “till and keep the garden” (Gen 2:15) and promote the common good
– Why the state is something willed by God
– What happens when those is power ignore God and the natural law
– Why the right ordering of society should be built upon reason and the natural law
Quotes:
“Jesus said to them, ‘Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.’ They were utterly amazed at him’ (Mark 12:17).”
“There are two legitimate realms of authority, and the authority of Caesar, of the temporal order, is willed by God. It is something that we should respect.”
“Our Lord himself even recognized the authority of Pilate at the very moment of being sentenced to death.”
“The state is something that is willed by God, to always have an authority that works towards the common good.”
“We are the ones that are going to deliver the world from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the sons of God. We cannot just abandon society.”
“We cannot let other people who don’t have the truth of the natural law take charge, otherwise they will make it seem that the natural law is something imposed on society and something specifically Catholic. And precisely our point is that it, no, the natural law is universal and not specifically Catholic, and based on reason.”
“We have to introduce the world to a new civilization of love, and that’s our call as children of God.”
*This podcast was originally published in 2015.
Rev. Javier del Castillo
Fr. Javier del Castillo is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei and currently serves as President of the St. Josemaria Institute. He earned a degree in electronic engineering and moved to Rome to complete his ecclesiastical studies, where he was ordained a priest in 2005 and earned a doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in 2007. He worked as a chaplain in high schools in the Washington, D.C. and Chicago areas for several years, offering spiritual accompaniment to students, parents, and teachers. From 2015 on, he served as the vicar of Opus Dei in the midwest; he was appointed regional vicar of the United States in 2022. He became vicar of the United States and Canada in 2024, following the restructuring of the regions, until his appointment as Vicar General in April 2025.
