Pray That Our Nation Continues To Fulfill God’s Purpose As A Beacon Of Freedom
The Risen Soldier
In 1944, Archbishop of New York, Francis Spellman, wrote a book titled The Risen Soldier. One review site describes it as:
A beautifully written story of the last flight of an American airman, which — placed side by side with the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Soldier Christ — gives a spiritual interpretation of the suffering and sacrifices of war. Although written by our leading Catholic prelate, this little book will be meaningful to all Christians, particularly to those who have lost a son or brother or husband in the war.
Stories Of Faith And Courage From World War II
Spivey Larkin’s excellent book, Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II in the Blessings & Battlefields series, has a couple of excerpts from The Risen Soldier. In particular, the August 19 entry includes a poem that the Archbishop had written in honor of the heroic WWII soldiers. Following is Larkin’s introduction to the poem, and the poem itself as quoted from The Risen Soldier:
Francis Spellman, the Archbishop of New York and later Cardinal, hated the war and its powers of destruction. At times it seemed to him that God’s kingdom of love on Earth was almost at the point of being overwhelmed. He felt that this blanket of darkness was in danger of covering the planet, unless mankind could learn the lesson of peace from the soldiers doing the fighting. He saw these brave young men and women as Christ-like figures, willingly exposing themselves to death in the hope that something good would grow from their sacrifice. He grew to love and respect these soldiers and wrote a moving poem in tribute to them and the cause for which they had to fight:
“I am the risen soldier; though I die
I shall live on and, living, still achieve
My country’s mission Liberty in truth
And truth in Charity. I am aware
God made me for this nobler flight and fight,
A higher course than any I had deemed
Could ever be; and having found my course,
Whether I ground my plane on the home field
Or plunge a flaming banner from the skies,
I shall not turn again to petty things,
Nor change my plan of life till God has sealed
My papers with His seal. And if it be
My blood should mingle reverently with Christ’s,
His Son’s, in this my final missioning,
Shall I not whisper with my dying breath
“Lord, it is sweet to die as it were good
To live, to strive for these United States,
Which, in Your wisdom, you have willed should be
A beacon to the world, a living shrine
Of Liberty and Charity and Peace.”We can only pray that our nation continues to fulfill God’s purpose as a beacon of freedom to the world, and that America will always be worthy of such a prayer.
Source: Larkin Spivey, Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II (Battlefields & Blessings®) . AMG Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Prayer:
Lord God Most High,
Yes Lord, we pray that our nation continues to fulfill Your purpose as a beacon of freedom to the world. In Your great mercy and compassion grant us favor and grace. In Your sovereign rule of the earth, let the vigilance of divine protection be over our nation.
Father, You alone are worthy of all glory and praise. Glorify Yourself through the United States, a living letter of recommendation to the world to be known and read by all. A letter of recommendation showing what is possible from a people wholly devoted to You—the creation of a free society founded in divine and eternal truth, order, and wisdom.
Our nation is a letter from Christ, delivered by You, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of humans hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). And that letter says loudly and boldly, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Thank You for establishing our nation to be a beacon of freedom to the world.
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:4-5). Definitely, we are not sufficient in ourselves. Freedom is only made possible through Your Spirit.
Lord, we confess that we have not striven to faithfully deliver Your letter of our founding freedom. We confess not holding completely to the mandates of our ordination. We confess not confronting the sinister evils of marxism, communism, and socialism, as they began bubbling up in our nation over a century ago, until today, when we see their horror on full display.
The purveyors of human oppression masqueraded as angels of light to us and multiple generations before, doing their deeds of darkness under dubious legal disputes, convincing people they did not understand the Constitution, perverting the words of the Founders written in separate contexts, and the list goes on and on.
Oh Father God, Your Word warned us, and we confess not fully heeding it. We confess allowing so much to conform to a worldview that did not include You. And little by little, the moral fabric of our founding, the basis of a firm belief in One God Who is Creator and Redeemer over all, started to unravel.
God, we confess not pushing back. We confess not standing up for the truth. We confess believing hell’s demons who said the church had no place in the public square. We confess believing satan’s lies about Your place, that is, the prohibition of it, in our society.
We have disappointed You. But You will never disappoint us. Your faithfulness is greater than the sand on the seashores.
Therefore, we lift our nation to You. Send the winds and fire of revival to the United States. Make us completely worthy of the beautiful prayer written by Cardinal Spellman.
Moreover, send Pentecost’s great winds and tongues of fire to Your Church. Stir us up! Set us ablaze for Christ.
Embolden and empower us in the Spirit of Christ to reject the worldly lies surrounding “truth” and “justice.”
Embolden and empower us in the Spirit of Christ to reject the worldly prostitution of “peace” as if people’s lives and cities and freedom could be bought and sold.
Embolden and empower us in the Spirit of Christ to stand for divine truth and justice out of which the living waters of peace will gush like an ever-flowing stream.
Father God, watch over us, and let our nation regain the freedoms we have lost, and maintain complete freedom for generations to come. May the up and coming generations be protected from learning about tyranny through the trials of poverty and civil war. Father, cleanse the sinister poisoning from indoctrinated and ideological minds. Cleanse them and restore their conscience.
Vanquish the domestic enemies who seek to imprison this nation in a socialist/communist/Marxist government. Putting themselves—broken and sinful humanity—in Your place, they want to administer these Satanic systems to distribute their idea of justice and allocate their form of equality—things that are ruled, and can only be ruled, justly, within the bounds of heaven. Cleanse our nation of such putrid haters of mankind and arrogant lovers of self.
Help us Lord! Raise up godly leaders! Raise up Christlike patriots who love You and love our nation! Raise up preachers and pastors wholly devoted to Your Word! May parents raise their children in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And let all of our citizens hold firm to our founding principles, knowing that they were formulated amid much prayer and struggle by people who knew You personally.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Divine wisdom proclaims, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Wisdom explicitly asserts there is “a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7).
Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, we are torn. Now is the time to sew. We have been silent, now is the time to speak!
Lord, help! Help us mend the unraveling of our divine founding. Help us to speak for Your truth and Your justice. Give us valiant hearts, courageous spirits, and quickened minds to do our part in establishing Your Kingdom on earth, in sharing the Good News of the Gospel, and being a big, bold, beautiful beacon of freedom to the world.
Heavenly Father, we are trusting in Your providence, mercy, and love. You are “able to make all grace abound to us, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, we may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8) for Your glory. And glorify Yourself through us, as we, by grace, continue to be a beacon to the world, a living shrine of Liberty and Charity and Peace.
In The Holy Name Of Jesus Christ, Amen.
This incredible WWII veteran salutes and honors our great American flag. Of course, this gentlemen had the courage to put his life on the line in order to defend America’s freedom. Because he stood, and stands, on principle, he will always be a great American hero. And the lives of millions of Americans are indebted to his courage and bravery.
What a stark contrast to the entitled and ill-educated who kneel and disgrace our great American flag and heritage! Lord, You said it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter heaven. But You also said that it is not impossible. Lord, may these unprincipled, ungrateful, self-indulgent egomaniacs who pervert our founding and lead others to do the same, come to know You as their Lord and Savior. Give them pride in our great nation and a sense of gratefulness toward the sacrifice of our veterans. Let them love our country and be willing to stand up for our great freedom. Grant to them the conviction that it is time to sew and that it is time to speak. Oh God, You alone are able.
