\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into\nthe hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you.\nThrough her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for\nthe freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have\nmercy on our president and all the officers of our government. Grant us a\nfruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and\nindustry and labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Taken from the act of consecration of United States to the Immaculate\nHeart of Mary.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am constantly being drawn to examine what is biblical and\nwhat is worldly. This is not in terms of how they may be separate, more as to\nhow they complement each other. What I find compelling about this prayer taken\nfrom the act of consecration of United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary\nis first we bring our gratitude and our thankfulness and then we ask for mercy\nappealing to God through Mary for His grace. For me this is the formula, the\nway our prayers should be structured. Now, look through this formula and see\nwhat we find. There is a great appeal to the biblical to grant us fruitfulness\nof spirit grounded in justice and charity along with worldly success centered\non capital, industry, labor and prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notice how different\nthese two aspects appear to be. In the worldly, we would expect great struggle\nand great risk to lead to great rewards. Rightfully so, in the world, a healthy\npsychological equation would demand that great risk would have an equal or\ngreater reward. Biblically, we find great love doesn\u2019t lead to great gain,\nbenefits or rewards; great love leads to great suffering. Bishop Barron tells\nus love is willing the good of the other for the sake of the other. This\nnecessarily means giving of ourselves in self-giving love. Nothing says this\nbetter than the Cross and the lives of Mary and the martyrs. In our lives, this\naspect means giving of ourselves without being in the equation, not expecting\nand demanding a return on our investment. There is also the painfulness of\ngiving yourself for the sake of this unconditional love. In our ego driven\nworld, the realization of giving up some of our own aspirations, time and\nenergy for the sake of others can lead to some very undesirable responses,\nbitterness, feeling unappreciated or resentment come to mind. For the believer,\nthe focus remains in the moment. The love is the reward, standing alone, its\nown merit. The love has no need of the worldly, of joy postponed, of\nexpectations to be met. The love biblically blossoms into compassion, kindness,\nempathy and hope. Pope Francis tells us optimism can be disappointing; hope is\neternal, never changing, always faithful. \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,29],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","tag-catholic-church","tag-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reflectionsonfaith.net\/reflections\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}