June 11, 2026

Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Father Brian O’Brien

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“America the beautiful! So you sing in one of your national songs. Yes, America, you are beautiful indeed, and blessed in so many ways:

These are the words of St. John Paul II during a visit to Denver, CO in August 1993. He goes on to say about the United States of America:

– in your majestic mountains and fertile plains;

– in the goodness and sacrifice hidden in your teeming cities and expanding suburbs;

– in your genius for invention and for splendid progress;

– in the power that you use for service and in the wealth that you share with others;

– in what you give to your own, and in what you do for others beyond your borders;

– in how you serve, and in how you keep alive the flame of hope in many hearts;

– in your quest for excellence and in your desire to right all wrongs.

Yes, America, all this belongs to you. But your greatest beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter. “The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenceless ones. The best traditions of your land presume respect for those who cannot defend themselves.”

As the United States of America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary next month, we gather tonight in downtown Tulsa to pray for this country and to, very specifically, to consecrate Her to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We do this in solidarity with the Bishops of the United States, including our own Bishop Konderla, as they gather in Orlando, FL. The Bishops of the United States are doing this same thing today.

So what exactly are we doing today? We are certainly praying for this country. Praying for our leaders, our judges, and for the country as a whole. But a consecration is different. Today we entrust our nation to the infinite love and care of Jesus Christ. His heart is the source of His infinite love. And that heart beats for you. That heart beats for this nation. That Sacred Heart invites us out of ourselves to trust Him, to be loved by Him so that we can, in turn, love those around us.

This consecration of the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus also reminds us to serve this nation, whether we were born here or came from afar, we have a duty to this land. To love her. To pray for her. To make her better. The Catechism of the Catholic Church spells it out in paragraph 2239: It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

We serve the nation by voting, serving the poor, serving in the military, participating in civic organizations, but we serve our nation best by living out our Catholic faith to the fullest. This is not a Catholic country but this land has benefitted by the prayers and efforts of Catholics for centuries. In many places including right here in Tulsa, Catholics have been seen as outsiders, as unpatriotic, and even as enemies of the state. We are not that but we also must be clear on who we are. Are we American Catholics or Catholic Americans? We are Catholic first, disciples of Jesus Christ first. And that is precisely what American should want because Catholics who live live their faith fully make The United States of America a better nation for everyone.

When we live our lives to the fullest, when we live our faith out loud, there should be more virtue, human life being respected from conception to natural death, the stranger being welcomed. As the Second Vatican Council stated, “The temporal order is perfected by the Spirit of the Gospel.”

This is our job. This is our duty. Jesus Christ is King. He is our King. He is the King of the Universe and the King of the United States of America. Every nation stands under His judgement and under His mercy. And He loves you. He loves us. And so we look to His Sacred Heart to restore the goodness and beauty of this nation harmed by the sins of violence, racism, greed, and a disregard for the dignity of human life.

As we know, even from our founding when slavery was rampant, this country has often failed to understand what the human person is. We’ve grabbed on to radical individualism, consumerism, a sexual ethic that says if it feels good, do it, and we’ve grabbed on to an aggressive secularism that takes religion, including ours, and says, “Be quiet”. We experience, and often give in to, a compartmentalization that says religion is something for Sunday mornings but should not be brought into our politics, our business, our schools, and our communities.

This is, of course, not the way. We are Catholics, many of us are Catholic Americans and all of us live here now. And today we turn to the Lord and we consecrate this complicated and beautiful country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

And we do all of this tonight, in the midst of a Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Mass. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is intrinsically Eucharistic. And it is the Eucharist, and our devotion to Him, that will make this country better.

St. Teresa of Calcutta, who visited this cathedral in 1976, was once asked how we can change the world. She said famously, “Go home and love your family.”

And so we ask, how can we change our country for the better? How can we help the United States of America fulfill the promises laid out in our founding documents? How can we, one nation under God, truly be who God wants us to be? Be the best follower of Jesus Christ that you can be. Go to Church, Go to Confession, receive the Holy Eucharist, love your family, love your community, and be men, women, and children of prayer. Pray for this country. Beg our Eucharistic Lord today to make each of us holy so that we, in turn, can be leaven for this beautiful land. To be a people sacred to the Lord and to make this land, this beautiful country, our home, a light to the world through Jesus Christ and His Sacred Heart.

May God have mercy on us and shed His light upon us as we entrust this nation today to His love and to His Sacred Heart.