[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 30 (Thursday, February 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S1971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, Rev. Father Peter Chrisafideis, St. George Greek 
Orthodox Church, Bangor, ME, offered the following prayer:
  O Almighty God of the universe and of all space, we pray that You be 
with us this day, as we gather in Your name. How dependent we are upon 
You for our very being and mere existence. Man's temporal systems and 
civil parties have appeared and vanished, but Your eminent wisdom was 
and is forever.
  Truly nothing has sustained our planet and world more than our 
sternest belief in Your omnipotent protection, love, and compassion. 
Continue, O Lord, to sustain and direct our great Nation in Your way, 
for we are a truly great and genuinely God-fearing people.
  We pray for our President, for Gov. Angus King of the State of Maine, 
our Maine representatives, Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, 
our Maine Representatives John Baldacci and Tom Allen, and all the 
Members of the U.S. Congress. Grant them health first and then the 
strength to continue programs, initiatives, and directives in the 
interest and well-being of others, notwithstanding their age, color, 
creed, and religious espousal.
  Assist those in great need, who suffer bodily from malnutrition and 
live in unhealthy and inhuman surroundings. Preserve, O Lord, the 
cornerstone of democracy and freedom that flourishes in our Nation so 
that we may continue and remain the land of the free and the home of 
the brave, the torch and example of all peoples of the world.
  Let all people from the rising and dawning of the Sun cry aloud 
praise to Your holy and sublime name. We ask this in Your name. Amen.

                          ____________________