Gebetsliga Releases Prayer Before an Election
The United States of America will hold the Presidential Election in November 2024. Bearing in mind the Nation’s challenges and the need for wise, moral, civic, and peaceful leadership, the Gebetsliga USA / Canada is pleased to offer a special prayer to help Catholics form their consciences and implore the intercession of Blessed Karl as they prepare for the upcoming election. The Gebetsliga is grateful to our friend, the Most Reverend Roger Joseph Foys, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Covington, KY, USA, for composing this special prayer.
Prayer Before an Election
Through the Intercession of Blessed Karl
Good and loving God, as we approach another election, we ask that you bestow on us the wisdom to choose wisely, to heal divisions among us, to commit ourselves to justice and peace and reconciliation.
We pray for all candidates, for all election officials, for all those who will cast a vote. Keep them safe and endow them with the fortitude necessary to vote responsibly and to foster a spirit of peace. May our vote move our nation to embrace once again a more perfect union, the wish of those who fashioned our constitution.
May every candidate realize that all authority has its beginning and end in You and that every leader is first accountable to You.
May we be civil to each other as we discern our vote. Let us not be
victims of political idolatry but let us instead seek the peace and unity Your Son brought to the world through His suffering and death.
We make our prayer through the intercession of Blessed Karl of Austria, the Emperor of Peace, whose words “Now we must help each other get to heaven” echo in our own time. May his courage and fortitude and the depth of his faith inspire us during these days of unrest and division. And may we make his final words be ours: “They Holy Will be done, Jesus. Jesus come! Yes – yes. My Jesus as Thou willst it – Jesus.”
Amen.
Prayer by the Most Reverend Roger Joseph Foys, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Covington, KY, USA