Josiah bartlet
Patron of Oratory and america
Let us pray...
SAINT BARTLET, be with us when we are tired. May we wake up energized. And may we go to sleep that way.
Be with us as we pick apart what is nicety and intention and balance a host of responsibilities as allies and as individuals. Let us work to be good and to do good. Let us be forgiving, but never at the cost of our assertion that all are created equal.
Make us willing to be uncomfortable. Give us the strength to acknowledge our discomfort, and to keep trying to provide what a given moment calls for.
May we value smart people who disagree with us. May we unite around common causes and work with faith for good causes not our own. May we surround ourselves with people who love us and will fight for us and with us. May we banish narcissists and sycophants to their echo chambers.
Remind us to love words, to know their power and to recognize that a language where words mean nothing is destruction and violence in itself. Be with us as we try to find the words – the music – to move mountains and minds. Grant us eloquence, oh saint, grant us inspiration. And – sometimes – grant us writers to give us the words we grasp after, to form the phrase for our feelings.
Grant that our leaders may be remembered as they deserve.
SAINT BARTLET, lay bare the empty rhetoric of the proudly ignorant. May those who insist they know best be struck with perfect understanding and overwhelming empathy.
Grant us always the opportunity to open our mouths and say what we think.
May we have the courage to run into the fire. May your mercy guide us out again.