A prayer for the Country

“As Christian men and women in Switzerland our primary responsibility is to love God with all our hearts. We want to be inspired by Him in order to be able to love our neighbour. For this reason, we hereby reiterate our commitment to serve God with all our might and do His will”. Thus states the Declaration of personal commitment recited by the Christians gathered in Bern on September 14, on the eve of the “Day of thanksgiving, repentance and prayer”. The festivity is celebrated across Switzerland since 1796. A tradition rooted in the past. The feast, rooted in the tradition of the Reformed Church and later incorporated by the Catholic tradition, was initially handled by the Swiss cantons and by the churches in different periods of the year and with autonomous modalities, with the same purpose of leading the civil community towards prayer and fasting for moral and spiritual needs, as well as for the social and economic policies of the times. Recently, the date of the festivity was established at federal level for the third Sunday of September (in Geneva it will be celebrated in November). From the Second Vatican onwards the national Day, of thanksgiving repentance and fasting has become an ecumenical recurrence. Since it takes place on Sunday, it almost passes unnoticed. But in fact it is a civil festivity marked in red on the calendar, while if it were a working day schools would be closed. It’s a rare opportunity for political and religious leaders to meet, even though nowadays many Swiss people are unaware of the festivity. Peace, freedom, stability. Last year 113 MPs signed a petition on the eve of the so-called “Bettag”, calling upon the Swiss population to render thanks for the gift of peace, freedom and stability, to fast for their individual misdeeds, to pray for God’s blessing on the population, and for “wisdom and appropriate conduct to those with political, economic and social responsibilities”, so they may “welcome and support the weak and marginalized brackets in Switzerland and across the world”. Once more, “over 50% of MPs applauded the celebrations of past Saturday, signalling that the Bettag is still deeply rooted within a large portion of our political representatives”, Urban Fink-Wagner, chief editor of the Catholic daily SKZ, told SIR Europe. “But it’s a fact that a remaining 50% of politicians, along with the population majority no longer consider it an important festivity”. It should be said that despite widespread secularization the festivity has preserved its deep meaning, namely to “express solidarity, to reflect on and pray for those values that characterise our homeland”, added Fink-Wagner. National celebration. To respond to the appeal of 113 MPs, who in the meantime have increased to 130, and to give greater relevance to this occasion, the working community of Christian Churches in Switzerland (AGCK) along with other associations  in the country, have organized for the first time a national celebration to mark the event that will take place on the day before the Federal Fasting Day, Saturday September 14. The leaders of the Protestant Churches in Switzerland, as well as policymakers and Christian faithful, prayed, sang and renewed before God their citizenship commitments. The personal Declaration states: “Before God we commit ourselves through prayer for the good of the inhabitants of the Country. We strive to ensure reconciliation and to be the architects of peace in our families, churches, in the workplace and in our lives. We are committed to ensure the promotion of peace in our Country and to respect all those who believe, think and live in different ways from  us”.Christian values at the centre of society. For the event in Bern, Msgr. Joseph Roduit abbot of San Moritz and Msgr. Charles Morerod, bishop of Losanne, Geneva and Freiburg were the official representatives of the Catholic Church. “It is a good thing that after the national holiday of August 1st, which is at the same time civil and patriotic, the Federal Thanksgiving holiday preserves its religious feature”, said Msgr. Joseph Roduit. “The fact that MPs called upon the population to place Christian values at the centre of Swiss society is greatly welcomed also by the Churches”.