Reflection

After decades of its promotion by Paraguayan activists, the International Day of Friendship was first recognized by the UN General Assembly in 2011 in the hopes that the promotion of friendship between the various nations and cultures of our world might lead to greater peace.

The type of friendship being celebrated is not, of course, a mere happy feeling toward another person that comes and goes. Real friendship that leads to peace requires loyalty and a commitment to helping one another in times of need. It requires steadfastness and the openness to self-sacrifice. It requires love.

Not everyone today is enthusiastic about such friendship when it comes to relationships with other nations. Some politicians promote placing their own country's interests first to the exclusion of others and call this attitude "patriotism." Saint John Paul II warned against this attitude, saying that it was not true patriotism but rather dangerous nationalism:

True patriotism never seeks to advance the well-being of one's own nation at the expense of others. For in the end this would harm one's own nation as well: doing wrong damages both aggressor and victim. Nationalism, particularly in its most radical forms, is thus the antithesis of true patriotism, and today we must ensure that extreme nationalism does not continue to give rise to new forms of the aberrations of totalitarianism.

True patriotism, then, always takes the welfare of other nations into consideration. Saint John Paul’s ideal might seem impossible in today's world. Isn't so much of our economic system built around competition, and doesn't competition often involve making choices at the expense of others? Doesn't charity begin at home? How can we act as though everyone in the world is our friend without losing a sense of our own national identities-- without losing a sense of ourselves?

These are not bad questions, but they perhaps rest on the idea that the relationship between patriotism and international solidarity is a zero-sum game. Catholic Social Teaching teaches quite the opposite: that the two enrich one another. In a profound passage of Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis writes that patriotism is actually a requirement for international solidarity to flourish:

Just as there can be no dialogue with “others” without a sense of our own identity, so there can be no openness between peoples except on the basis of love for one’s own land, one’s own people, one’s own cultural roots. I cannot truly encounter another unless I stand on firm foundations, for it is on the basis of these that I can accept the gift the other brings and in turn offer an authentic gift of my own. I can welcome others who are different, and value the unique contribution they have to make, only if I am firmly rooted in my own people and culture. Everyone loves and cares for his or her native land and village, just as they love and care for their home and are personally responsible for its upkeep. The common good likewise requires that we protect and love our native land. Otherwise, the consequences of a disaster in one country will end up affecting the entire planet. All this brings out the positive meaning of the right to property: I care for and cultivate something that I possess, in such a way that it can contribute to the good of all.

An analogy to this relationship between the love of one's country and the international community might be what we mean today when we talk about "self-care," or proper love of self. If I do not possess a basic love and care of myself-- if I do not take proper nourishment; if I do not get good sleep at night; if I do not find time for relaxation and prayer-- I will not be able to care adequately for others. Likewise, our own countries cannot care for others in the world if we do not exercise basic care for our own communities.

And yet at the same time, if we only care for our own nations, we've fallen into a rejection of some of the most basic teachings of the gospel: that the same God created us all (Colossians 1:16); that we all possess the dignity that comes from being made in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27); and that the love we are called to have as Christians is meant to extend beyond national boundaries (Luke 10:25-37; Galatians 3:28). An ideology that restricts love, responsibility, and friendship to one's own nation at the expense of others cannot be called a Christian ideology.

Christian love is not a zero-sum game; the love of God is ever-expanding, ever-radiating outward. Let us love our own countries, our own cultures, our own families-- and then, like the love of the Trinity itself, let us allow our love to spill out toward others. This is true patriotism, true friendship, and true Christian love. And perhaps, as we reach out in love to one another as Christ commands, he also will give us that peace that only he can give (John 14:27).

Happy International Day of Friendship!