Kako se SAD približava svojoj 250. godišnjici neovisnosti, zemlja se nalazi na emotivnoj raskrsnici, trenutku da pogleda unatrag na povijest koja je oblikovala njen identitet i da pogleda prema budućnosti. U znak obilježavanja ovog važnog trenutka, katolički biskupi okupili su se u Orlandu na Floridi kako bi izvršili povijesni čin pobožnosti: posvetu Sjedinjenih Američkih Država Srcu Isusovu. Tijekom događaja, američki predsjednik Donald J. Trump i prva dama SAD-a Melania Trump izrazili su svoju podršku ovom trenutku molitve. U svom obraćanju američki predsjednik Trump osvrnuo se na uvjerenje da je Amerika, od samog početka, bila nacija vođena višim ciljem, izvjestila je Bijela kuća.

Temelj Izgrađen na Molitvi. Priča američke povijesti isprepletena je nitima vjere. Daleko prije nego što je zemlja službeno osnovana, bila je to zemlja u kojoj su misionari, istraživači i doseljenici nastojali širiti poruku nade i evanđelja. Ovo duhovno nasljeđe čvrsto je učvrstio biskup John Carroll, prvi katolički biskup u SAD-u, posvetivši mladu Republiku Mariji, Majci Božjoj, ubrzo nakon Revolucionarnog rata. Posvećivanjem nacije danas Srcu Isusovu, katolički biskupi odaju počast tom „ponosnom pravu vjere.“ To je proslava obilatih darova koje je primila nacija osnovana na načelu da svi ljudi posjeduju urođena prava na život, slobodu i traženje sreće, koja im je darovao njihov Stvoritelj.

Pouke iz povijesti: Pobjeda duha! Vrijeme ovog posvećenja, koje vodi prema Svetkovini Presvetog Srca Isusova, budi snažne uspomene na globalnu borbu za slobodu. Navodi na sjećanje na povijesni 12. lipnja 1987., kad je predsjednik Ronald Reagan stajao na Brandenburškim vratima i izazvao sile ateističkog komunizma da ‘sruše ovaj zid.’ Promišljajući o tom razdoblju, Trumpova priča ističe sinergiju između političkog vodstva i moralnog svjedočanstva. Dok je predsjednik Reagan stajao u Berlinu, papa Sveti Ivan Pavao II bio je u Poljskoj, podsjećajući mlade svijeta da svaka osoba mora pronaći svoje vlastiti ‘Westerplatte’—skup vrijednosti i istina koje se moraju braniti po svaku cijenu. Zajedno, moralno vodstvo Reagana i duhovno vođenje pape pomogli su zaokrenuti tijek protiv ‘bezbožnih sila’ koje su nastojale potisnuti ljudski duh. Njihova ostavština služi kao podsjetnik da se simboli ljubavi i štovanja, poput križa koji bi se pojavio na berlinskom televizijskom tornju kad bi sunce pogodilo baš kako treba, ne mogu trajno ugušiti.

Danas, dok se zemlja suočava s modernim izazovima i ideologijama koje nastoje marginalizirati vjeru, mnogi nalaze snagu u povratku tim temeljnim vrijednostima. Posvećenje služi kao zavjet za obranu duhovnog identiteta nacije i civilizacijskog naslijeđa. U duhu zajedništva i promišljanja, nada za budućnost je jasna: da će Sjedinjene Američke Države sljedećih 250 godina i dalje ostati zemlja vjere, mjesto čuda i svjetlo svim narodima.

Uz poruku američkog predsjednika Trumpa dok SAD obilježava ovu povijesnu 250. godinu, čin posvećenja Svetkovini Presvetog Srca Isusova poziva američke građane da se zaustave, razmisle o svojoj povijesti i gledaju prema budućnosti utemeljenoj na trajnoj snazi ljudskog duha.

Tekst i foto/ Božidar Bebek/ Totalno.HR

Today, Melania and I join in prayer with Catholic Bishops gathered in Orlando, Florida, as they consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the occasion of our 250th year of American Independence—a powerful moment in our national story and a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God.

Even in the centuries before the United States was conceived in nationhood, America was a land of prayer, a place of miracles, and home to some of the most faithful and devoted Christians to ever live.  From the heroic bands of Christian missionaries, settlers, and explorers who tamed the unknown to spread the Gospel to the priests, chaplains, and churchgoers who forged our spirit in every generation since, the love of Jesus Christ has stood at the center of our identity and way of life.

Inspired by this proud birthright of faith, just years after the end of the Revolutionary War, Bishop John Carroll—the first Catholic bishop in the United States and cousin of Catholic Founding Father Charles Carroll—consecrated our young Republic to Mary, the Mother of God.  Today, this grand legacy of faith in America reaches yet another historic milestone as America’s Catholic Bishops consecrate our Nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during which they will prayerfully “celebrate the abundant gifts” that God has “given this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  And following today’s consecration, on June 12, Christians in the United States and around the world will celebrate the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a joyful celebration of God’s boundless love for all His creation.

This year’s Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus also fittingly marks the anniversary of one of the most momentous days in Western civilization’s long twilight struggle against atheistic communism.  On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered his historic address at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in which he famously implored Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

Toward the end of his remarks, President Reagan identified what he called “the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West:  The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.”

President Reagan recounted the construction by the communist East German government of a mighty television tower in the 1960s.  “Virtually ever since,” Reagan said, “the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind.  Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross.  There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.”

On that very day, just over 200 miles away, Pope Saint John Paul II, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, was speaking in his native Poland.  On the Westerplatte peninsula, the place where, in an extraordinary display of heroic virtue, an isolated force of around 200 Polish warriors held out for 7 days against approximately 4,000 German troops attacking from sea, land, and air in the opening days of World War II, the Pope challenged a gathering of Polish youth:  “Each of you, young friends, also finds your own ‘Westerplatte’ in life.  A set of tasks that must be undertaken and fulfilled.  A just cause that you cannot simply fail to fight for.  A duty, an obligation, from which you cannot shirk.  You cannot ‘desert.’  Finally—a certain order of truths and values that must be ‘upheld’ and ‘defended,’ just as at Westerplatte, within oneself and around oneself.  Yes, defended—for oneself and for others.”

Pope Saint John Paul II closed by quoting the words of a Polish martyr.  “More horrifying than a defeat of arms is the defeat of the human spirit.”

Thanks to the moral leadership of President Reagan and Pope Saint John Paul II, the tireless work and determination of free men and women around the world, and the moral witness of millions who endured prolonged suffering within the Captive Nations, the godless forces of Soviet communism were vanquished—and the human spirit triumphed.

Today, nearly four decades later, our Nation and our culture confront a new set of menacing ideologies seeking once again to cast God out from our society.  But today, as Catholic Bishops consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this 250th year of our Independence, we recommit ourselves, like President Reagan and Pope Saint John Paul II, to defending our spiritual identity and great civilizational inheritance.  Above all, we pray that America will continue for the next 250 years, and beyond, to be a land of faith, a country of miracles, and a light and glory to all nations.