In a marathon ecumenical prayer and praise celebration ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary, top political figures gathered with faith leaders and several thousand Americans on Sunday to rededicate the country as “one nation under God”. Source: EWTN News.
The event, which was held under the auspices of Freedom 250, the country’s public-private initiative leading the celebration of the 250th birthday, also commemorated the act of the American colonies’ Continental Congress, which, ahead of the Revolutionary War, proclaimed May 17, 1776 as a “Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer”.
In that proclamation, the leaders of the nascent nation urged their fellow citizens to “confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease [Godʼs] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness”.
Catholic participants at the “Rededicate 250” event, held on the National Mall in Washington DC, included US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron and actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in The Chosen television series.
President Donald Trump did not attend or offer a customised message for the event. Instead, a video of the president from last month’s “America Reads the Bible” event was played in which Mr Trump reads from 2 Chronicles.
In a video message to the gathering, Cardinal Timothy Dolan noted that “in every chapter of the American story our faith in God has been the bedrock of our greatness”.
“Our deepest values as a country have always been rooted in our identity as a people of God and anchored in the reality that we’re not only American citizens — you bet we are and grateful for it – but that we are bound someday to be citizens of Heaven,” Cardinal Dolan said, adding that “our founders knew that. They knew that in order to be faithful and productive citizens and true patriots, we must recognise that we’re children of God first”.
The central prayer of the event was led by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson.
“Today, here Lord, in this 250th year of American independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God,” Mr Johnson said.
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Top US leadership rededicate country as ‘One nation under God’ (EWTN News)
