The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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HYDE PARK, Thursday—The Christmas Season is with us again and two of my friends have sent my prayers which I would like to pass on to my readers. One was marked a "Cordelia Murphy original" and is done in most beautiful script. It is headed, "Prayer for a Home".

Grace Thou, O Lord, this home with happiness;
Grant all who dwell herein a deep content;
Let guests who come know hospitality Which, in its warmth, is so sincerely meant.
MAY those who sorrow find some solace here;
And folk rejoicing share a gladder day
Within its walls, through all the happy years—
For these, O Lord, in friendliness we pray.

Another friend sent me a much more personal prayer and one, perhaps, we would like to keep where we can glance at it each morning.

"Please, God, our Father, let us thank you for all that is good, true, and beautiful in this Thy universe. Please, God, guide and bless the United States and the United Nations, bless all efforts to achieve peace with justice and freedom and guide those who work for these ends. Forgive us our faults, and if a personal prayer is permissable, grant guidance and protection to all those whom we love.

“May we grow in faith and understanding, and give us work, wherever we may be, which may benefit our community and the world so that we may prove the value of democracy and grow more worthy of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Above all, dear God, relieve us of our fears. Give us faith in ourselves and faith in one another, so that we may build a world in which the Four Freedoms are possible.”

I hope you will like these prayers as I have and that you will consider them as my Christmas message to all of you who read my column. This is a blessed season and there is nothing in literature more beautiful than the story in the Scriptures of the coming of Christ to earth. It is symbolic, perhaps, that He came as a baby needing love and protection, for all of us need love and protection.

At this season of the year, hearts are warm and overflowing with wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year which we extend to all we meet, and I hope the wishes can be translated into acts that will bring to those whom we can reach some greater happiness and comfort throughout the year.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, by UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]
Other Terms and Topics


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 25, 1953

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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