Father Christopher Zugger

On the Fourth of July this year, we celebrate our 242nd birthday as a nation. We have been the shining city on the hill for the nations of the world for over two centuries. Even with all the division in our political and civic discourse today, people still try to come here to seek asylum; start a new life by working hard; and to enjoy the freedom to think, worship, speak in peace without the state trying to dictate their thoughts, words, and prayers. For all our troubles we are still the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth. May our political leaders act in our name, and the name of the Constitution, and not the bickering and name-calling we have seen of late. As long as we put our trust in God and seek to emulate His mercy and love, this country will walk the right path. Read the words, and give thanks we live where we do, despite our challenges.

Lyrics

1. 1. Oh say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
   What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
   Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
   O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
   And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
   Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
   Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
   O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
2. 2. On the shore, dimly seen thru the mists of the deep,
   Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
   What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
   As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
   Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
   In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
   ‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
   O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
3. 3. Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
   Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
   Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
   Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
   Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
   And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
   And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
   O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!