United Nations prayer
Known as the United Nations Prayer, the text is a 1942 poetry by the American poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Vincent Benét .
Benét had been asked by the poet Archibald MacLeish , then head of the Library of Congress , to write a text for Flag Day 1942. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt read the prayer on June 14, 1942, at the end of his nationally broadcast flag day radio address. He put it in connection with the declaration of the United Nations , which was published on January 1, 1942 during the Arcadia Conference .
text
The text of the prayer is printed in full below. The shortened version from the Catholic praise of God (see reception ) is highlighted in italics .
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God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind. Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and nations. Grant us faith and understanding to cherish all those who fight for freedom as if they were our brothers. Grant us brotherhood in hope and union, not only for the space of this bitter war, but for the days to come which shall and must unite all the children of earth. Our earth is but a small star in the great universe. Yet of it we can make, if we choose, a planet unvexed by war, untroubled by hunger or fear, undivided by senseless distinctions of race, color or theory. Grant us that courage and foreseeing to begin this task today that our children and our children's children may be proud of the name of man. The spirit of man has awakened and the soul of man has gone forth. Grant us the wisdom and the vision to comprehend the greatness of man's spirit, that suffers and endures so hugely for a goal beyond his own brief span. Grant us honor for our dead who died in the faith, honor for our living who work and strive for the faith, redemption and security for all captive lands and peoples. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. And grant us the skill and the valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong. Yet most of all grant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years - a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds. We are all of us children of earth - grant us that simple knowledge. If our brothers are oppressed, then we are oppressed. If they hunger, we hunger. If their freedom is taken away, our freedom is not secure. Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace - that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security, an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best, not only in our own lands, but throughout the world. And in that faith let us march, toward the clean world our hands can make. Amen. |
God of the Free, we commit our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free humanity. Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free people and nations. Grant us faith and understanding to honor all those who fight for freedom as if they were our brothers. Grant us brotherhood in hope and unity, not only for the time of this bitter war, but for the days to come, which all children of the earth will and must unite. Our earth is only a small star in the great universe. It is up to us to turn it into a planet whose creatures are not tormented by wars, not tormented by hunger and fear, not torn into senseless separation by race, skin color or worldview. Give us courage and foresight to begin this work today so that our children and grandchildren will one day proudly bear the name human. The human spirit has awakened and the human soul has moved out. Give us the wisdom and vision to understand the greatness of the human mind which suffers and endures so tremendously for a purpose beyond its own short span. Give us honor for our dead who died in faith, honor for our living who seek and work for faith, salvation and security for all captive countries and peoples. Grant us patience with the blinded and compassion for the deceived. And give us the ability and courage to cleanse the world of oppression and the ancient doctrine that the strong should eat the weak because they are strong. But above all, grant us fraternity, not just for today but for all our years - a fraternity not of words but of actions and deeds. We are all children of the earth - just give us knowledge. If our brothers are oppressed, then we are oppressed. When they starve, we starve. If their freedom is taken from them, then our freedom is not secure. Give us a common belief that man knows bread and peace - that he has law and justice, freedom and security, equal opportunities and equal opportunities to do his best, not just in our home countries, but in the whole world. And with that belief let us march towards the pure world that our hands can create. Amen. |
reception
The composer Douglas Moore set Benét's prayer to music in 1943 as Prayer for the United Nations for alto (or baritone) solo, mixed choir and orchestra.
A greatly abridged version of the text was included in the Catholic prayer and hymn book Praise God in the section “Responsibility for the world” (GL old 31.1). The text was also adopted in the revised Praise to God from 2013 (GL 20.1). In both publications there is no information about the author or the context of the origin. This led to various misunderstandings of the text. On the one hand, the impression could arise that prayer was an official text of the United Nations , which, however, was only founded three years after the text was written. While the United Nations Declaration of 1942 is seen as an important step on the way to establishing the world organization, there is in fact no indication that the text has any direct connection with the organization. On the other hand, the text was repeatedly misunderstood as a prayer for peace . In fact, it is a prayer for freedom . The full text and the historical context shortly after the United States entered World War II shows that this freedom had to be won against the tyranny of the Axis powers .
Web links
- Prayer ... To GOD OF THE FREE
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address on United Flag Day.," June 14, 1942. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
- PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT'S "FLAG DAY" ADDRESS June 13, 1942
- Information on prayer from the United Nations , German Liturgical Institute
Individual evidence
- ^ Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. bartleby.com, accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ OCLC 17563118
- ^ Catalog entry in the National Library of Australia
- ↑ David Garrett Izzo, Lincoln Konkle (Ed.): Stephen Vincent Benet: Essays on His Life and Work. McFarland, Jefferson 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1364-6 , p. 230 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- ↑ Jerry L. McBride: Douglas Moore: A Bio-bibliography. AR Editions, Middleton 2011, ISBN 978-0-89579-666-0 , p. 465 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- ↑ Prayers for Peace. ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Communauté de Notre Dame de la Paix, Sainte Mère Église, Normandy, accessed February 23, 2016.
- ↑ Encouragement to pray for peace. Liturgical suggestions. ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Evangelical Church in Germany, 2003, accessed on February 23, 2016 (PDF; 219 kB).
