[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 54 (Thursday, May 4, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3501-S3502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today in recognition of the National 
Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 4. Today is a special and exceptional 
opportunity for all citizens of our country to join together in prayer.
  Days of prayer have been a fundamental part of our American heritage 
since 1775, when the Continental Congress, recognizing the need for 
guidance as it undertook the enormous challenge of forming a new 
Nation, designated a time for prayer. President Abraham Lincoln 
continued this tradition. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, he 
proclaimed a day of ``humiliation, fasting, and prayer.''
  The National Day of Prayer has been celebrated formally since its 
enactment by Congress in 1952. In 1988, President Reagan signed a bill 
setting the

[[Page S3502]]

National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday of every May. Now, each 
year, the President signs a proclamation encouraging all Americans to 
pray on this day.
  The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer is ``PRAY2K: 
America's Hope for the New Millennium.'' During the times of both 
triumph and adversity that surely lie ahead, I know prayer will help 
America's leaders and citizens to direct our country on the right path 
for the new millennium.
  In the 1st Century A.D., the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, 
telling them, ``Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to 
God.''
  It is my hope the citizens of my home state of Minnesota, and people 
across this Nation, will take that advice and present the concerns of 
the country in prayer not only on May 4, but every day of the year. I 
know many thousands of students will gather today at the State Capitol 
in Minnesota, to pray for their leaders and their peers in an event 
entitled ``Share the Light 2000.'' I applaud their efforts and commend 
them in their commitment to this important day.
  I thank everyone involved in making this day possible year after year 
and all those who will take part in the National Day of Prayer. May the 
spirit that fills our hearts this day remain strong always.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, today we celebrate the National Day of 
Prayer, set aside as a day to humbly come before God, seeking His 
guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people. I would 
like to take this occasion to implore my fellow Americans to remember 
why it is that prayer is so important for our nation.
  Since the earliest days of America's heritage, we have been richly 
blessed by God. We have been granted liberty, prosperity, and a measure 
of peace unknown to most nations throughout history. Even during 
periods of hardship, God has given us strength to endure, and has used 
our tribulations to mold us into a better nation.
  While we daily enjoy God's bountiful provisions, we need only look at 
our nation's history to realize that His blessing has not been granted 
to us by accident. America has been blessed as a result of our historic 
reliance upon Him. From the moment that Christopher Columbus first set 
foot in the New World until today, Americans have trusted God and 
sought to follow His direction. Columbus prayed to God for strength and 
guidance to help his companions endure the difficult voyage to the New 
World. Our founding fathers looked to God in prayer for wisdom to 
create a government that would ensure freedom and liberty. Through war 
and depression, America called out to God for strength and courage. In 
times of prosperity, we praised God for his many blessings.
  God's blessing does not come without expectations, however. God 
commands us to obey Him and follow His laws. When calling for a day of 
national humiliation, fasting and prayer in 1863, President Abraham 
Lincoln admonished our nation in the following statement:

       We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of 
     Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and 
     prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no 
     other nation has ever grown.
       But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious 
     Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched 
     and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the 
     deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were 
     produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
       Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-
     sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving 
     grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
       It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended 
     Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency 
     and forgiveness.

  Those words are as true today as they were when spoken by Abraham 
Lincoln many years ago. God has given us commands to follow so that we 
might be able to fully enjoy His creation and receive the benefit of 
His blessing. When our nation has turned our back on God's commands, we 
have been plagued by such tragedies as slavery, crime, drug abuse, and 
abortion. If our nation is to continue to be blessed by God, we must 
renew our commitment to God daily through prayer.
  President Ronald Reagan designated the first Thursday in May to 
celebrate the National Day of Prayer. My challenge is to make every day 
a day of prayer, so that we might follow God's will and continue to 
receive His blessing into the 21st century and beyond.

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