A Prayer to Begin Our Studies

This weekend I heard the following prayer at the memorial Mass for my friend Sean Lugano. I think it puts our response to the attack on our country on 9/11/2001 in the right perspective. I think it's also a good prayer to keep in mind as we begin to study the proud history of our own nation.

This is my prayer, O God of all nations,
A prayer of peace for lands afar mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is,
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies everywhere are as blue as mine...
O hear my prayer, thou God of all nations,
A prayer of peace, for their land and for mine.