This past Sunday, after both Masses at which I served as the deacon, I noticed that not a single parishioner left early. They all sang both recessional hymns from the heart, through all the verses, to the very end: America the Beautiful and Battle Hymn of the Republic. Our organist later shared that the response was very much the same at all the Masses that weekend. 

This alone, while beautiful to see and somewhat unusual, was not completely rare in my experience at our New England parish. However, from where I stood in the sanctuary, I was able to see something that none of our parishioners could see, something I had never seen before, and it caused my heart and eyes to fill up: the profound concern and sorrow that was evident on the faces of the entire congregation while their eyes remained fixed on the tabernacle, as if pleading to Our Lord for help.

I immediately understood the cause of their concern and shared it. How could I not? Anyone with eyes to see can recognize it now. Yet, in watching all of these good and faithful people express their deep concern for our nation, I couldn’t help but also feel cause for real hope, because such concern is born of love. For all of its failings and frailties, we still love this country and want it to flourish. And just maybe, God is allowing us to suffer these trials, among other things, to rekindle and purify that love and appreciation for what is best and most noble about America, to revive our memory, and to call us back to faithful citizenship and stewardship over this land. 

Did you feel it at your parish this weekend?

Lord, please remind us of who we are, and of Whose we are. Please grant us the grace to turn back to You with all of our hearts, with all of our minds, and with all of our souls. Please help us to cultivate and grow in the virtues we need this day and always, so that we may live in accordance with Your holy will. And please heal and restore our land.

Amen.

These hymns are truly beautiful and inspiring in their entirety, but as my friend, Robert George, noted to me about The Battle Hymn of the Republic, perhaps one particular passage best captures our moment and “should seize our souls”:

 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat
 Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
 Our God is marching on.

May we never forget the powerful reflections, supplications and exhortations found in these hymns! Let us take heart, take stock, and then take action! It is time to rekindle true fidelity to our country.

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrims’ foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once and twice for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
Till selfish gain no longer strain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on

Glory, Glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps
His day is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His day is marching on 

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal”
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel
Since God is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free
While God is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
While God is marching on