As I was watching, I was struck by the courage of Peter, Paul,
St. Stephen (of course), and all of the other early Christians as they boldly
continued to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ even through persecution and
martyrdom. So tonight I think about the
same courage many Christians and martyrs for the faith are enduring even today,
in our age. I think of and pray for
those in other countries who are persecuted far worse than we in the US are. At
least we don’t have tanks on our doorsteps or fighter jets in the sky shooting
missiles at us to persuade us to give up our faith.
But we are in the “infancy” of a real battle for our rights to
practice our faith in good conscience.
We need to join in our bishops’ plea for a “Fortnight for Freedom.”
Please take a few moments every night
for the next two weeks (up to and including INDEPENDENCE DAY) to say the
prayer below. We must not allow our
government to force anyone or any institution to violate their conscience!
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.
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