James Martin, SJ, is a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America.
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Trump Wanted Prayers for America. So Let’s Pray
What is your prayer for our nation as it celebrates 250 years? Here’s a place to start.
HOW CAN WE PRAY, with honesty and humility, for the United States of America? We asked ministers, writers, activists, and faith leaders to write prayers for our nation. Some have roots in this land that run deeper than the Declaration of Independence, others are more recent additions to the American tapestry. With words of confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, they wrote from their hearts. Some prayers ring with hope, others carry the weight of years of harm to the land and people. But all these prayers are written with love, a love willing to tell the truth, even when it hurts; a love that never fails. This is the truest form of patriotism. This is what it means to seek the peace and welfare of the land in which God has placed us (Jeremiah 29:7).
May you find in these words the power of remembrance in a culture of intentional forgetting, encouragement amid despair, and joyful connection with our Creator and with all creation beyond national boundaries.
As you read these words, what is your prayer for our nation? Email us at [email protected].
—The Editors
Dramatic Faith
Like the actors in this off-Broadway play, we're all participants in the story of Jesus.