America the Beautiful

​On the 4th of July, we celebrate and give thanks to God for our beautiful country. We have the traditional BBQ, decorate our patio with red, white, and blue, have a water balloon toss, sing patriotic songs around the campfire, and -- for those willing to stay up after grand silence -- watch the local fireworks from the top of our hill. But beyond these joyous and meaningful community traditions, we spend the day in prayer for our country. 

​In 1987, as he was taking leave of the United States after an apostolic visit, Pope St. John Paul II addressed the American people from the Detroit airport. In words as relevant today as they were almost 40 years ago, he expressed his love for us as well as called us to follow Christ particularly through respecting the dignity of every human life. 

“America the beautiful! So you sing in one of your national songs. Yes, America, you are beautiful indeed, and blessed in so many ways… But your greatest beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter… For this reason, America, your deepest identity and truest character as a nation is revealed in the position you take towards the human person. The ultimate test of your greatness in the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones.”
​(Farewell [to America] Ceremony, September 19, 1987)

​Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners

We are very grateful for the gifts God has granted our nation. But there is much to pray for in our land: many needs of peace, unity, truth, justice, and mercy. As we remember God's blessings on this Independence Day, we lift up our hearts to Him in prayer and petition through the intercession of Mary. In California, we celebrate the feast of our state's patroness,  Mary under the title Our Lady of Refuge, on July 5th. We invoke her intercession in a particular way. 
 
Pope John Paul II wrote a prayer for the families of our country in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America addressed specifically to the Church of the Americas. We entrust our needs and the needs of our nation's families to Mary, Our Lady of Refuge, Immaculate Conception, and Empress of the Americas. 

Prayer to Jesus Christ for the Families of America

​We thank you, Lord Jesus,
because the Gospel of the Father's love,
with which you came to save the world,
has been proclaimed far and wide in America
as a gift of the Holy Spirit that fills us with gladness.

We thank you for the gift of your Life,
which you have given us by loving us to the end:
your Life makes us children of God,
brothers and sisters to each other.
Increase, O Lord, our faith and our love for you,
present in all the tabernacles of the continent.

​Grant us to be faithful witnesses to your Resurrection
for the younger generation of Americans,
so that, in knowing you, they may follow you
and find in you their peace and joy.
Only then will they know that they are brothers and sisters
of all God's children scattered throughout the world.

​You who, in becoming man, 
​chose to belong to a human family,
teach families the virtues which filled with light
the family home of Nazareth.

​May families always be united,
as you and the Father are one,
and may they be living witnesses
to love, justice and solidarity;
make them schools of respect,
forgiveness and mutual help,
so that the world may believe;
help them to be the source of vocations
to the priesthood and the consecrated life,
and all the other forms of firm Christian commitment.

Protect your Church and the Successor of Peter,
to whom you, Good Shepherd, have entrusted
the task of feeding your flock.
Grant that the Church in America may flourish
and grow richer in the fruits of holiness.

​Teach us to love your Mother, Mary, as you loved her.
Give us strength to proclaim your word with courage
in the work of the new evangelization,
so that the world may know new hope.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America,
pray for us!