“And tomorrow America just might fall apart. Tomorrow, tell me where will you wake up?” -Against Me!, “8 Full Hours of Sleep”

I don’t think I’ll make many friends with this post, but I feel full of angst tonight. I feel I must preface this again with the, “I am not an anarchist” statement, though I’ve never found being called one quite as insulting as those accusing me have meant for it to be.

My parish priest is one of the most fiercely, and dauntingly, intelligent men I’ve ever met. A few years ago at a parish event I mentioned the comic book Watchmen, and the following Sunday, he gave me The Girard Reader and expected me to be able to explain how Alan Moore used his characters to provide a case study for Rene Girard’s scapegoat theory.

One of my favorite homily’s of his was also the shortest I’ve heard him give. In it, he postulated that if America were to fall tomorrow, as Catholics, what would that matter?

Now, I was already undergoing a world altering political and ideological shift internally, so that question seemed to come at the most opportune time.

Through truth be told, I also enjoyed watching all of the uptight conservatives in the congregation shifting uncomfortably as their priest stood at the pulpit, openly acknowledging the collapse of the American empire. The point was that as Catholics, we shouldn’t be focused on the kingdom our world leaders are trying to build on this earth. We are directed towards the Eternal, to a different kingdom altogether.

If tomorrow America were to fall, I would not care, for my kingdom does not lie here. My devotion is not to a country, my allegiance is not pledged to a flag. America did not suffer and die for my sins. No nation did for anyone’s.

I’m already of the mindset that all flags burn the same color. My heart yearns for something more that a country, my heart burns with a fire for the Holy Spirit.

If America were to fall, tomorrow, I would like to wake up with the Father.