God Bless America
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home

As we celebrate the 4th of July this week and look back at our history and forward to our future as people of faith we may call to mind the blessings of life and the hopes and dreams we see in how we are to go forward. As a Catholic priest one of the first “tempest in a teapot” I was faced with was the song “God Bless America.” I can’t remember which national holiday it was but directly after Mass I was confronted and excoriated by several parishioners about why we didn’t sing “God Bless America” at the end of Mass. Later on in my priesthood after another national holiday I was confronted and excoriated by several parishioners on why we did sing “God Bless America” at the end of Mass…and throughout the years this has continued because it is not something I think too much about and often it slips by my notice. But it has been something I do think about from time to time and seeing this song as prayer (to sing is to pray twice according to St. Augustine) is important…because the call to blessing is very important no matter who we are and to whom and where our prayer intention is headed. Jesus reminds us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Mt 5:43-45) It is where our prayer/song becomes the reaching out of healing and blessing towards all people.
“God bless America” specifically in this song, The United States of America, if we added this to a list of prayers we may not have any objections but yet at the end of Mass there are many. If we consider the prayer we may begin to see the blessings is simply offered. I often pray these words to many people during the day. As a sixth grade teacher I would often say to my students, “God bless you Peter” to which in the beginning they would respond, “I didn’t sneeze.” It is a short prayer that we hopefully utter many times in our lives and days to family, friends and yes, enemies. It is a short prayer we send towards many parts of the world and many peoples in different situations and places in times of need. It is because we understand that whether it is “America” or any other country, place or group…it is the people who we seek to bless because the second phrase is about love, “Land that I love.”
Love is the understanding that with faults and failures we still love. I bless and desire my family, friends and each person I meet to be blessed because I hope for the better, the more holy, the fuller dignity to grow within that particular person but also in the community and world we inhabit. It is because we understand whether an individual person or a land, we love through failures and faults, not dismissing or forgetting them, but forgiving and moving forward in the growth of generous love. I will never be 100% in-sync with any person, I know my own faults and failures and know them also in family and friends and yet it is in love I draw closer because I know their presence makes me a better man. In the same way we should have this same hope for our communities, our country and our Church…not because any are perfect but because we are made better when we seek unity rather than division. It is here we have the desire, as Christians, for our God to guide and lead us through the darkness into the light of charity and justice. And I would hope this is where we all desire to be.
Just some thoughts about a simple song shared and blessed.
God Bless you and America
Fr. Mark