The USCCB also has a page devoted to activities in the dioceses of the United States, but BIG SURPRISE my own diocese is not in the list.
The initial activities listed in our church bulletin are:
June 21 -- Start off the Fortnight by praying for religious freedom. A rosary takes about 14 minutes to pray.
June 22 -- On the feast of St. Thomas More, spend some time reading about the patron saint of religious freedom who was martyred, by the King of England, for being true to his faith.
June 23 -- Saturdays are always a time to remember our Blessed Mother. Ask her to intercede with her Son to protect our freedoms.
June 24 -- See the movie "For Greater Glory" playing at ____.
The following prayer is taken from the USCCB website:
Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty
O God our Creator,
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Critical comments on the prayer from an outsider:
ReplyDelete(1) Why wasn't the intercession of the Blessed Virgin included in the prayer? Ah, yes, it's the USCCB.
My hunch is that had the Blessed Mother been included, the prayer would have had that much more efficacy (I say this without diminishing Christ's absolute Kingship, omnipotence of God, etc). Jesus cannot say "No" to requests made by His Mother. Yes? If it truly is a "decisive hour in the history of our nation" how can a Catholic be so naive as to not include Our Lady. Lepanto anyone?
(2) Another opinion: in the prayer there's a hint - too much of one, of what might be called the deistic-political, i.e prayer starts off as "O God our Creator" - that's too loud of an echo of your Declaration of Independence: "Nature's God...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". Too much Locke.
Why not start off with: "Praise be to Jesus Christ, Redeemer of Man..." or something to that effect? Make it a really Catholic prayer... Too embarrassingly straightforward for the bishops?
I just may do a short post on this.
TH2: And of course, the BVM is the PATRONESS OF THE UNITED STATES. I also was struck by the "God our Creator" which is a designation usually used, in my observance, by persons avoiding referring to God with a male pronoun. (I'm sure referring to Him as "Father" was a compromise.) The prayer is also people-centric rather than God-centric, just like the "hymns" that are thrust upon most of us at Mass.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do post about it.
Getting ready to post on it. Will give you H/T. Hope you won't mind being associated with the likes of me.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I love about Maronite liturgy is the beautiful prayers that nearly bring me to tears. Whoever is writing prayers for the USCCB could "borrow" a thing or two from them:
ReplyDelete(From Renewal and Consecration of the Church)
Blessed are you, O Christ,
you have built the holy Church, the spiritual Jerusalem,
and have gathered within her the scattered ones of Israel.
You have promised to be with her until the end of the world.
You have confirmed her in sanctity
and made her foundations firm in the faith,
binding her stones with love.
The gates of hell will not prevail against her.
In times past the prophets announced her establishment;
the apostles proclaimed her salvation;
and for her the martyrs suffered death.
and Safro concluding prayer:
O God, you are before all ages and exist from age to age; you are resplendent and glorified in unsearchable light; through your word, you bring forth light and give us a new day. O radiant Day and Source of all light, we glorify you, adore you, and offer you praise night and day; accept our praise and answer our prayer. Send us your abundant blessings, through the mercy of your Christ. To him, with you and the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor and power, now and for ever. Amen.