National Day of Prayer
Hundreds gather in Civic Plaza asking for divine support
Religious, civic and business leaders called for the nation to seek solutions through faith Thursday as hundreds gathered in Civic Plaza to observe the National Day of Prayer.
Several speakers called for strength and support for civic leaders, law enforcement officers, first responders and members of the armed services.
“Kindly look over our country as we seek to live out the vision of our founders, a vision forged several hundred years ago by those unafraid to give their all that we might know the freedoms known only to a few in our fragile world,” Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester said.
“See in us here today a symbol of all your people who yearn to live, one day, in lasting peace with each other,” Wester said.
The Albuquerque event, with several hundred in attendance, was one of an estimated 30,000 such observances around the country, which is held the first Thursday of each May.
The Rev. Danny Sanchez, pastor of Victory Outreach Church of Albuquerque, reminded people that too many New Mexicans are lost to drug addiction, crime and prison.
“Today as we pray, let us be mindful of those who are lost in addiction,” Sanchez said. “Addiction is a plague across our nation. As we pray, let us keep this in focus, that God will be able to save the criminal, save the addicted, save the lost.”
The Rev. Skip Heitzig, founder and senior pastor of Calvary of Albuquerque, said that President Abraham Lincoln first authorized a day of prayer during the darkest days of the Civil War.
“He felt that Americans were too proud to pray to the God that created our nation,” Heitzig said. “We were given our nation not by government, but by God.”