[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page H1737]]

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                        House of Representatives

  The House met at 2 p.m.
  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God, creator of all and guide of history, on October 22, 1978, 
Your servant and priest, Karol Wojtyla, greeted the world, as John Paul 
II in St. Peter's Square, with the words: ``Be not afraid!''
  He wrote later that he could not fully know how far these words would 
take him and the whole world into the future. ``Their meaning came more 
from the Holy Spirit than the man who spoke them,'' he said.
  Lord, his exhortation, ``Be not afraid!'' is to be interpreted now as 
having very broad meaning. In a certain sense, it remains an 
exhortation addressed to all people, an exhortation to conquer fear in 
the present world and every situation.
  It is a prayerful exhortation addressed to America and Members of 
Congress today: ``Have no fear of that which you yourselves and the 
founders of this great country have created. Have no fear of all that 
human history has produced. Have no fear of a world that is every day 
becoming more dangerous to the human perspective. Have no fear of 
yourselves!''
  You, Lord God, are the source of hope and strength which conquers 
every fear and sets us free. In You, Lord God, there is more power than 
anything man, woman, or child could imagine or fear. With You, Lord 
God, people of faith can take bold steps themselves to rid the world of 
fear and plant seeds of hope for the least and the most threatened in 
our midst.
  Through You, Lord God, we find peace, reconciliation, unity and 
freedom, now and forever.
  Amen.

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