First responders, police officers, public safety officials, firefighters and others gathered May 5 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. for the 32nd annual Blue Mass to honor those who protect and serve the public, to pray for God’s blessings on them and to pray for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
“We pray today honoring all of you, especially for those who have given their lives and for their survivors,” Washington Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said. “We give thanks for your willingness to take up this noble and difficult and challenging work to help us be more safe, more strong.”
Cardinal McElroy, archbishop of Washington, was the principal celebrant of the midday Mass. Among the concelebrants were Father Patrick Lewis, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, and Msgr. Salvatore Criscuolo, retired pastor of St. Patrick Parish who has served as a chaplain to federal and municipal public safety agencies in Washington
The cardinal noted that his own grandfather was a San Francisco police officer.
“First responders have always been seen by me through his eyes for their dedication, care, commitment to justice, reaching out to people in desperate need, for the stresses and sacrifices that come along with this work,” Cardinal McElroy said.
Several hundred people including representatives from federal, state, county and local police and fire departments as well as family members and friends of law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty packed the church for the Mass. Many others followed the livestreamed Mass via social media.
The Blue Mass is so named for the traditional color of the dress uniforms of police officers and firefighters. The tradition of celebrating a Blue Mass began in 1934. The tradition stopped in the mid-1970s but resumed in the 1990s to honor those who serve in law enforcement and public safety. The Mass is offered in May each year close to or during National Police Week, which this year will be observed May 10-16.
This year, the Mass was offered one day after the May 4 Feast Day of St. Florian, a third-century Roman officer who is the patron saint of firefighters.
Referring to the Mass’s Gospel reading (John 14:27-31) in which Jesus tells his disciples, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” Cardinal McElroy said, “Jesus died and rose on our behalf and gave us the greatest gift we could have in our lives – the gift of peace.”
He told the first responders that “it is that inner peace, that profound peace, that serenity that God gives to us and that we treasure as the centerpiece of this celebration.”
He prayed that “every first responder knows peace in their hearts … May God’s peace always be with you and at our side, your side.”
To survivors who mourn loved ones “who have died in service to our nation and to society,” the cardinal prayed that “the peace of God be with you in a profound way as we remember their service, their personality and their loss.”
He said first responders “are called in a special way to be peace officers,” and they should remember that “God reaches out to all of you and thanks you for the sacrifices you make – for what you have done without and for those inner turmoils that come to you with this great work that is so difficult and burdensome.”
Referring to the Beatitudes and the prayer that “blessed be the peacemakers,” Cardinal McElroy offered his own “beatitudes” for “those who embrace the suffering and the glory of devoting their lives for the protection of others.”
Among those who are blessed, the cardinal said are those who “build up true peace in our world;” those who “have given the last full measure of their humanity” in service to others; and those “first responders making crucial aspirations of our nation’s founding principles possible in this, the 250th year of the American experiment in democracy.”
Prior to the Mass, honor guards and flag bearers from the various local, state and federal agencies that serve throughout The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and neighboring Virginia processed into the church.
At the end of the Mass, names were read of the law enforcement officers from local, state and federal departments who died in recent years. Each name was accompanied by the date of their “end of watch” – the day on which they died. They were remembered by two buglers playing “Taps” followed by bagpipers playing a mournful “Amazing Grace.”
As the congregation departed, they sang “America the Beautiful,” which includes the verse: “America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.”
