[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Richard C. Halverson, D.D., offered the 
following prayer: Let us pray.
  * * * thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour 
as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets.--Matthew 22:37-40.
  Gracious God of truth and love and mercy, these words are precise and 
unambiguous, but we do not seem to take them seriously. Paul, the 
apostle, declared that ``love is the fulfilling of the law.'' The 
apostle John wrote, ``He that does not love does not know God; for God 
is love.'' Hearing these explicit words, we remember with shame the 
history of religious wars, and the consummate tragedy that today 
religion is fracturing nations.
  God of perfection, awaken us to the realization that failure to love 
makes a travesty of religion and exposes our ignorance of God. Help us 
understand that love is more than a sentimental feeling, love is 
volitional, requiring a decision to obey God and love, not only our 
neighbor, but our enemy.
  In His name who is love incarnate. Amen.

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