Prayer for a Nation

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Isaiah 66.10-14c Psalm 66 Galatians 6.14-18 Luke 10.1-12, 17-20

When George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States in 1789, the only Catholic bishop in the country at the time, Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, wrote a prayer for the occasion, a prayer for the country and her leaders. It is a prayer that has stayed with us through 44 presidents and over 200 years of a diverse people bound together by life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The reason Archbishop Carroll’s prayer is still valuable today is that it speaks to all people, of all times. It is not politically divisive; it is not allied with any particular ideology. It simply asks that God guide the leaders of our nation as they fulfill their duties. And it recognizes that true wisdom, real freedom, and lasting peace come not from governments or armies or business or technology, but from God alone.

In many ways, this is the same message that Jesus gives in today’s gospel. As he sends seventy-two followers ahead of him, they are to preach a message of peace, and they are to declare the presence of God’s kingdom. The faith of Jesus Christ is not a political faith – the kingdom of God is not identified with any one system of government or set of laws. God’s reign is universal, with no borders or boundaries. The kingdom of God is at hand for us when the poor of all nations are fed, when the strangers are welcomed, when the sick in mind and body find wholeness. The kingdom of God is at hand when there is peace and unity among all people, regardless of race or ethnicity, gender or social status. The kingdom of God is at hand when we seek guidance not just in human knowledge but in divine wisdom.

We really have something good going on here in the United States, a land that is based on respect and freedom, life and unity. But through the years, like any human structure, we get off track, we lose our focus; we turn away from the God who unites us and trust instead in the things that divide us: our jobs, our homes, our back accounts, our personal dreams. Through the years, we have strayed away from a society that was founded on a fundamental acknowledgement of a right to life. Through the years, we have laid aside the quest for building God’s kingdom here on earth while awaiting the kingdom of heaven; instead, we have focused more and more on what satisfies us as individuals in the here and now. We have a good foundation here in this country, but we need help and guidance to achieve that dream.

So we look back to the prayer of Archbishop John Carroll, the prayer written for the inauguration of our first president. His words speak to us still today.

Almighty and eternal God, assist with your spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides. May he encourage due respect for virtue and religion. May he execute the laws with justice and mercy. May he seek to restrain crime, vice, and immorality. Let the light of your divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government. May they seek to preserve peace, promote national happiness, and continue to bring us the blessings of liberty and equality. May we [all] be preserved in union and that peace which the world cannot give; and, after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. We pray to you, who are Lord and God, for ever and ever. (“Prayer for an Inauguration,” Book of Blessings, para. 1965)