Claire Martin writes
in the Denver Post this morning about the passing of Bonnie Brae Tavern’s Hank Dire (click here) and the restaurant his parents established when he was 5
years old and that he worked in all his life. I was 2 years old when my dad
started his business. We tried working together, and our unsuccessful effort
makes me appreciate people like Hank Dire and his father. Might have something to do with their Catholic faith.
Go into any Catholic
church in the world today and for the next three days at daily mass, and you’ll
hear these and the rest of the words (click here) that St. Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to Timothy. Some think these
are the last word written by St. Paul, his “last will and testament” and his final instructions to his disciple
Timothy and to each of us.
“I remind you to stir
into flame
the gift of God that you
have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a
spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and
love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of
your testimony to our Lord.”
Some priests may be suggesting that hearing and pondering these
words of St. Paul is good preparation for the
Fortnight for Freedom (click here) that Catholics across the country are being called to
observe in preparation for the upcoming elections. Here in Denver speakers
will share on “Christian Faith and American Democracy: A Growing Gap?”, “Catholic
Politicians: Revisiting JFK’s 1960 Speech on the Absolute Separation of Church
and State.”, and “Accommodation Abomination: the HHS Mandate and American Law.”
It might surprise some that President Franklin D.
Roosevelt believed prayer was important to our country. This is a prayer he
broadcast over the radio on this date, June 6, in 1944 at a perilous point in
World War II:
Almighty God: Our sons,
pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to
preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a
suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and
true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in
their faith.
They will need Thy
blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may
hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall
return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness
of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried,
by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will
be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of
war.
For these men are lately
drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They
fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise,
and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of
battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return.
Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home -
fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas
- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to
rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged
that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the
road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves
in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day
is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -
strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the
physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be
stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart
our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us
Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in
our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not
the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let
not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we
shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the
apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country,
and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace
invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of
men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done,
Almighty God.
Amen.
Read more at the American
Presidency Project:
I think St. Paul would like this prayer, and he'd like President Roosevelt
for not being ashamed to say it. Our pennies say "In God We Trust," and many of our problems as individuals and as a country are being caused by a loss of this trust.
How about you, do you trust God? If not, stop in a Catholic church today. Or just read 2nd Timothy, it's a short letter. As you read or hear Paul's words open yourself to that trust. What are you being called to do? What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? God bless you.+
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