My friends, before we begin Mass this morning, I
feel the need to say something about the events of this past week.
We have been through a long and bruising election
season, an election unlike any of us can remember. Some are elated about
the outcome and others are disappointed and even angered by it. One
thing is certain: no one is without feelings about what happened on
Tuesday and about the results that came in yesterday. And we bring those
feelings along with us to Mass this morning. There is no way we cannot.
And so, for some, our prayer this morning is one
of gratitude and hope; for others, our prayer will come from a place of
sadness and distress. But, for all our differences – our different
points of view, different political affiliations, and different
convictions about our country and its direction – for all our
differences, there is so much that unites us. We wouldn’t be here if
that were not the case. No matter what our differences may be, we are
sisters and brothers - part of the same Church, part of the Body of
Christ, part of this wonderful community of faith called St. James
Cathedral parish. And that, more than anything, needs to be in our minds
this morning as we gather for prayer - that, and an awareness that we
all care deeply about our country and want only the best for it—no
matter how we voted.
And, my friends, we have something more in
common, too: we all believe in the power of prayer and, to quote the
poet, “more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” Not
everyone believes that, but we do.
And so, we pray. We pray earnestly and honestly.
We pray from our joy, we pray from our pain. We pray with confidence to
the God who loves each of us beyond measure, we pray to the God for whom
the differences that to us seem great and even insurmountable are really
quite inconsequential when viewed against the great backdrop of God’s
plan for the human family. God’s plan is for us to love one another;
God’s plan is for us to build communities of love; God’s plan for us is
to embrace the voiceless and the vulnerable - those on the margins and
in the shadows who have no one to embrace them. God’s plan is for us not
only to embrace them but also to work for a better world where they are
valued, accepted, loved. In doing so, we will be building God’s kingdom
- making God’s kingdom come - which is what we pray for every time we
recite the Lord’s Prayer. And, my friends, those are things we can all
agree on, no matter what our politics may be, things we can all work
together to bring about. It’s what we have been doing for a long time at
St. James Cathedral, and I am confident that we will continue that great
work!
May our prayer this morning be a step in that
direction. May it begin to bring about healing, forgiveness,
reconciliation, and peace.
And may it bring to our President-elect and to
all those who were elected to public office this past week, wisdom,
courage, compassion, and a deep commitment to the values that make this
nation great.
Lastly, may our prayer help bring our nation, so
deeply divided and wounded, to a reawakening, to a belief and a
conviction that the great gifts given us so long ago by our Founders are
not spent or forgotten: that the great American Dream is still alive and
that we are the ones who can make that dream come true.
Let me conclude with the immortal words of
Abraham Lincoln spoken so long ago at his first inaugural:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not
be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of
the Union, when again touched…by the better angels of our nature.
Father Michael G. Ryan
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