Benediction of Timothy Cardinal Dolan at the Democratic National Convention, September 6, 2012

September 6, 2012 | Timothy Cardinal Dolan

[ConorMacNessa]

Benediction of Timothy Cardinal Dolan at the Democratic National Convention, September 6, 2012

“With a “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:

Let us Pray.

Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society’s greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.

We beseech you, almighty God, to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.

We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom’s defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.

We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.

We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.

And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom’s cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.

And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.

For we are indeed ‘one nation under God,’ and ‘in God we trust.’

So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.

Amen!”

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[ConorMacNessa]

Cardinal Dolan's Benediction, in my view, was a concise, Christian, and heroic response to the unholy spectacle of the last three days. He walked into the Lion's Den, spoke Truth to power, and bore Witness to the Truth of God. His doing so gives me renewed Faith in the survival of the Church in the face of increasing hostility from large segments of our society.



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[ConorMacNessa]

Ping to the FR Canteen and Amy's Place!



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[11th Commandment]

Lovely prayer, but the Good Cardinal clearly exceeded the allowed number of times mentioning GOD at a democRATic convention.

[US Navy Vet]

I’m IMPRESSED! My Independent Fundamental Baptist Pastor could have given this! I LOVE Cardinal Dolan!

[Invictus]

Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile. Amen.

[tiki]

So how did the crowd react?

[ZULU]

THIS is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!

He’s a BRAVE man and a highly intelligent one!!!

[Wings-n-Wind]

Thank you Cardinal Dolan...

...For saying to our God what so many believers are sensing, contemplating--
...and praying with you for our beloved America.

[ZULU]

He bearded the Lion in his den!!!!!!

[Qwackertoo]

Thanks for posting this as I didn’t watch any of the DNC.

[Alex Murphy]

Ping for reference

[NKP_Vet]

Only with he had used the word “marriage” in the below verse. Most democrats are too stupid to realize he was talking about trying to redefine marriage.

“We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community”

[Mrs. Don-o]

You are exactly right. "Nature and nature's God" is a reference to Natural Law; "institututions You have given us for the nurturing of life" refers to marriage instituted by Divine and Naural Law; but not 1% of the DNC listeners would have caught that.

If the gay activists, for instance, had "caught" that, there would have been howling. Wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Unfortunately, it was "dog-whistle" signal for the ears only of believers like us, NKP_Vet.

[madison10]

:) Cardinal Dolan prayed a spiritual exorcism-type prayer over the DNC convention. LOL Thank you

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Pearls. Swine. You know the rest.

[Salvation]

I wonder what the dimocrats did when he prayed:

**including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office.**

[madison10]

He wasn’t praying just for the goobers at the DNC he was praying for all of us, and boy, do we need it.

[Marylander]

The most important speech of the convention was Cardinal Dolan’s benediction.

[cport]

Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.

Can you say "death panels"? Nice slam on Obamacare, Cardinal Dolan!

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

—— He wasn’t praying just for the goobers at the DNC he was praying for all of us, and boy, do we need it.——

Providence was obviously involved with this great benediction being addressed to a bunch of Marxists.

I feels to me like God is saying, “Last warning, folks.”