The Invocation by Richard Cardinal Cushing at the 1961 Inaugural of John F. Kennedy

Cardinal Cushing was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston; I happened to catch this today on C-Span–KSH.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

In this year of our Lord 1961, we ask Thee, oh Almighty God, to enlighten us:

That we may know, as men, our personal responsibilities;

That we may know, as Americans, our political, social and humanitarian responsibilities;

That we may know, as citizens of the world, our global responsibilities to ourselves and our fellow men;

That we may know, as children of God, our responsibilities to the Father of Mankind;

Enlighten us, oh Lord, that we may know how to combine all of these responsibilities into a continuing principle of responsibility;

Enlighten us that we may know how to put this principle of responsibility into daily practice, both in ideal and action–in these troubled but hopeful times.
In this year of our Lord 1961, we beseech Thee, oh Almighty God, to strengthen our resolve;

To enlarge our vision of the common good;

To implement with personal sacrifice the objectives of our national purpose;

To revere in every man that divine spark which makes him our brother –that human spark which can make him our friend — and that personal spark which makes him himself;

To learn to ask ourselves sincerely in every community effort, not what we can get out of it, but what we can put into it.

To defend my right to be myself; to defend my neighbor’s right to be himself, and to defend America’s duty to respect the rights of all men.

Strengthen our resolve, oh Lord, to transform this recognition of others into a principle of cooperation.

Inspire us to practice this principle of cooperation both in ideal and action in these most dangerous, but soul-stretching times.

On this twentieth day of January — 1,961 years after the birth of Christ — on occasion of the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as President of the United States of America — do Thou, oh Almighty God, give him, his Cabinet, the Congress and courts of the United States — and all of us — the grace:

To perform with full personal responsibility our duties as free men;

To perform in full cooperation our duties as American citizens;

To perform with complete vigilance our duty to prevent the spread of totalitarian terror everywhere.

To perform with religious fervor our duty to teach, implement and create true freedom as a way of life at home and abroad — for true freedom underlies human dignity and is a holy state of life.

Give us the grace then, O Lord, to realize that we are made to be holy according to Thy image and likeness; for to be good is to be God-like;

Give us the vision, O Loving Creator of men, to realize that in Thy plan we have a self-sacrificing part to play in completing an unfinished universe; for to sacrifice is to conquer;

Give us the strength to further Thy creation by our responsible and dedicated work — for to labor is to pray;

Give us the charity to further Thy creation by our brotherly cooperation — for to care is to love.

Finally, O Lord of Men and Nations, through confidence in Thee let men take hope in what is being done in this capital of our nation, in this hour, in the month of January, in the year of 1961; let hearts everywhere be lifted and let anxieties be dispelled as new hands, in the vigor of youth, grasp the wheel of the ship of state.

Put Thy hands on his hands, put Thy spirit in his heart, put Thy justice and peace, the work of justice, in all his programs and let this land — and all lands — move forward under thy guidance and through his leadership to new frontiers in peace, progress and prosperity. Amen.