[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 120 (Friday, September 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H5619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page H5619]]

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                        House of Representatives

  The House met at 9 a.m.
  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. On this 
national day of prayer and remembrance, moved by the exhortation of 
President Bush and the tragic events of Tuesday, we gather first to 
pray and then be about the work of Congress.
  Ever mindful of the many victims, we pray, O Lord, in solidarity with 
their families, all who have come to their assistance, and with friends 
around the world. Circumstances such as Tuesday's horror shake us to 
new awareness and the need to pray, but prayer itself originates in 
You, O Lord. By Your own spirit in us we are moved, act, and have our 
being. Weeping and groaning deep within us the spirit cries out Abba, 
Father. Your spirit animates us as we struggle to find words to express 
all the sentiments of the heart.
  As each of us searches the depths of our own being in his or her own 
way, we know it is You alone who can change human hearts. You alone, 
through dialogue with You, can give us the right words and the right 
thing to do, if only we would listen and enter into the silence of Your 
presence. You alone can reshape perspective and bring to focus 
determined goals based on the truth that removes illusion. You alone 
can move hearts to repentance for evil perpetrated on others. You alone 
can take stony hearts and recreate them by Your Holy Spirit into fleshy 
hearts, hearts which are moved beyond self to respond to the pain of 
brothers and sisters in the human family.
  You, Lord, can make us one, heal our wounds, forgive our sins, and 
bring us to a new level of peace and freedom, where all people of faith 
can find expression, moved by Your spirit. And with Your help, 
together, we can create a truly pluralistic world where we can live in 
peace and unity, promised by Your kingdom, Thy kingdom come.
  Borne out of pain, moved by compassion, strengthened by the diversity 
of others, we know it is You, Lord God, who brings us to pray and 
declare Your praise, now and forever. Amen.

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