Prayer for Our Country and Government (Archbishop John Carroll)
Archbishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, composed this prayer in 1791, only a few years after the Constitution was ratified. It asks God's wisdom for the President, Congress, governors, judges, and all public officials, and his blessing on all citizens. It remains one of the finest prayers for public life ever written in America, and it asks for virtue, justice, and peace rather than for any party or policy.
Pray it on national holidays such as Independence Day and Thanksgiving, before elections, in times of division, or regularly for your leaders, whoever they are. An abridged form of the prayer is given below.
The Prayer
We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides, by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion, by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy, and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge, and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty. We recommend likewise to Thy unbounded mercy all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. Grant this, we beseech Thee, O Lord of mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
Sources: Prayer for the Civil Authorities by Archbishop John Carroll (1791), abridged, public domain.
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