He was amazed at their lack of faith.
(Mk 6:1-6)
As our founding documents remind us, we are called to form a more perfect union (US Constitution, Preamble). What has always prevented us from realizing our more perfect union has been the lack of faith in the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, whose signing we commemorate on the Fourth of July: “that all (men) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I remember Barbara Jordan’s famous intervention at the Watergate Hearings:
Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in "We, the people."
Perhaps, we need to remember that the work of forming a more perfect union is never completely over. Just like for us Catholics who want to build Christian community . . . we may never fully arrive, but we keep striving to build a world of justice, where everyone can find a place at the table of the human family, and know their dignity as children of God.
