July Fourth

The Preface to the Mass is a prayer offered before the main body of the Mass, the Eucharist Prayer. Unlike the Eucharistic Prayers which are of a general nature, the Preface often touches on a particular feast, celebration or season. There are a few Prefaces intended for civic observances in the United States, and this section is a paraphrase of part of one of those:

All-powerful and ever-loving God,
we do well to sing your praise for ever,
and to give you thanks in all we do
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

He spoke to us a message of peace
and taught us to live as brothers and sisters.
His message took form in the vision of our ancestors
as they fashioned a nation
where all might live as one.
This message lives on in our midst
as a task for us today
and a promise for tomorrow.
We thank for your blessings in the past
and for all that, with your help, we must yet achieve.

I have always like the two-fold nature of this text: thanks for what has been given, acknowledgement of what must yet be done. Seems to me that it is easy to lose sight of one or the other when we are in a patriotic mode.

So thanks for all we have received! And help with all we must do so that the promises may be made real for everyone!

Reminds me of a Native American friend -- now deceased -- who used to tell me to say one word when I get up in the morning: Help! And two words when I go to bed at night: Thank you!

See, Robin? I was paying attention.