Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
Reflection
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
President Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
Prayer
May all Americans, especially those who are elected leaders, think and act with integrity and unity.
Action
Consider the divisions in our nation. How many are based in what we say are our real values and how many play to our darker nature? Are you part of this? If so, why? What can you do to help bring about healing?
Suggested Reading
Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
Matthew 7:3
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:46-48
For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of others.
2 Corinthians 8:21
Good political leaders are the ones who always think of the common good, and who take action with a realistic yet open mind.
Pope Francis
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.
Albert Einstein
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln
Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.Abraham Lincoln
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln
You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it, “all men are created equal except negroes.” When the Know-nothings get control, it will read, “all men are created equal except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.” When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty–to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Abraham Lincoln