As I walked through the masses flooding the streets near the Washington monuments on Inauguration Day, I asked one question to the people I met: “What is your prayer for the country and the new administration?”
Considering most were dressed for the ski slopes and that so many who had trekked so far wouldn’t see anything more than lines and the back of other people’s heads all day, I thought many would turn the question inward and answer with prayers for warmth and a good spot on the mall.
But that wasn’t the case.
Pam Davis prayed for intelligence. She hoped that “smart comes back to America. We once were known for being very smart, being inventors … and now we are known for a whole different set of skills,” such as excessive weight, greed, cars and waste.
Miseah Reed from North Carolina prayed for leadership. “It’s hard to tell other countries to play nice if we don’t,” she said.
Sitting with her two young children on the ground near the Washington Monument, Karen Flowers from Georgia said she prayed for unity and that the country would rekindle its hope to work for “health, happiness, safety and security and that our children get a good education.”
Ben from Maryland, who preferred not to share his last name, prayed for understanding. People must realize Barack Obama “isn’t going to be a savior without us.”
“He can’t do it alone … we have to help him,” he said.
Ben’s friend from Philadelphia, who went just by Bill, prayed God would give Americans “patience.”
Valarie Williams said she prayed for diplomacy to solve problems “instead of war.”
And Lisa Chin from Atlanta simply prayed for “peace and equality.”
What are your prayers for the country and the new administration?
CNS Blog 
I wrote and posted this prayer on my blog:
O God,
upon this man, our new president,
shower your wisdom
that he might govern America
in the light of your truth.
Give him vision to see the future’s demands
and a love for the past
upon whose history we stand.
Grant him inner strength to bear the office
to which the nation and the world look
for guidance and leadership.
Give him a love for the law
the keeps us from chaos
and orders our lives for the common good.
Endow him with strength to make difficult decisions
and with courage to be faithful
to judgments made.
Instill in him a respect and reverence for life
in all its shapes and forms,
especially for the most innocent and defenseless.
Give him a heart for the hungry and the homeless,
for victims of disease and war,
for those everywhere in need of a share of others’ abundance.
Grant him good counsel on the economy
lest our wealth consume us or be consumed
by our foolishness and greed.
Make him a man of peace and a maker of peace,
at home and abroad,
and in his own heart as he stands before you.
Make him a leader of all Americans
and of Americans on all sides of many issues:
make him a president we can trust.
Let the wisdom of your truth,
the rule of good law
and the promise of liberty and justice for all
guide our new president and the people he serves.
God, we pray that you bless America
and President Barack Obama
who begins this day to lead us.
Amen.
God, please give President Barack Obama the humility and wisdom to protect all human life from its beginning at conception to its end when you take it away.
When Mr. Obama receives joy from his daughters and love from his wife, let him know that these are gifts from you, gifts that can only be granted because life is at their foundation. Help him to guide our country in ways of peace and selfless love.
Give Mr. Obama the grace to lead as a man, protecting and defending the most innocent of society and give him courage to do your will.
Finally, Lord, help Americans to support our new president in his attempts to do what is best for our country and to pray for him when he fails.
Through Mary, Joseph and Katelin,
Amen.
In this Year of St. Paul, we ask him to pray with us for all Americans, especially our First Family, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ through conversion of hearts and lives; that we may participate (wittingly and unwittingly) in the redeeming grace of God; for our conversions to the Way, the Truth, and the Life that God offers us in Christ; that we have encounters with God which make us stop and recognize our personal and national sins, especially sins against life and the dignity of all human beings made in the image of God. I pray that the suffering of our own “slaughtered Innocents” – our babies denied life on earth by our choices for and provisions of legalized abortion – that their suffering be redemptive for all of us who have sinned against them, against ourselves and our human family, and against God. I pray that we all may, by God’s power to bring about His will despite our limitations and sins, become mutual blessing with our new President, for the good of all our people and the world in which we live. Amen.