For Our Country

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favour and glad to do thy will.  Bless our land with honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners.  Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way.  Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.  Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.  In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (A prayer For Our Country from the 1928 BCP)

This is one of the best prayers for our nation that I have come across.  It reminds us that we are to pray for God's blessing upon our country; while also reminding our leaders that they are obliged to abide by a higher law than any ever passed by Congress.  We, too, should be reminded that we are all obliged to obey Him, honor Him and trust in Him.  Good words by which we should strive to live.

Fr. Michael+ 

Pray for Victory

"O God, who makest wars to cease, and by thy mighty arm dost overthrow the adversaries of them that put their trust in thee: come to the help of thy servants who humbly call upon they mercy; that we, being delivered from the violence of the enemy, may evermore praise thee with thanksgiving.  Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord.  Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.  Amen."

Words That Make You Go....Wow!

"Living within the truth means living according to Jesus Christ and God’s Word in Sacred Scripture. It means proclaiming the truth of the Christian Gospel, not only by our words but by our example. It means living every day and every moment from the unshakeable conviction that God lives, and that his love is the motive force of human history and the engine of every authentic human life. It means believing that the truths of the Creed are worth suffering and dying for.


"Living within the truth also means telling the truth and calling things by their right names. And that means exposing the lies by which some men try to force others to live.

"Two of the biggest lies in the world today are these: first, that Christianity was of relatively minor importance in the development of the West; and second, that Western values and institutions can be sustained without a grounding in Christian moral principles."

I took the quotes above from a speech given by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver, Archbishop Charles Chaput, in Slovakia just a few days ago.  The title of the speech is: Living Within the Truth: Religious Liberty and Catholic Mission in the New Order of the World.

Archbishop Chaput has been one of the most outspoken voices for Catholicism in the United States over the last few years and has written and spoken vehemently against the secularizing of our culture and the abandonment of our Western spiritual heritage.  This speech, which can be found here Text of the Archbishop's speech, is a bold indictment of the direction that the West is headed. 

Fr. Michael+