[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 63 (Thursday, April 19, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H3563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page H3563]]

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                        House of Representatives

  The House met at 10 a.m.
  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Times of great violence paralyze many and create distant waves of 
anxiety. The same burnishing moment that destroys innocents tests the 
mettle of survivors and produces some heroes. Terrible events born of 
evil intent and hatred cry out for ready explanation but often remain 
senseless, whether they happened yesterday or decades ago. In the very 
midst of the horrible scene there seems to appear a prophetic voice 
that screams out: ``Who are you as a people!''
  Lord God, by whose coinage we are all fashioned and redeemed, be with 
all of us who are touched by the stories of mass murders. Let not the 
hatred be contagious or fester in our impurient nature. Free the news 
of gruesome details which only burn the imaginative memory.
  Instead, Lord, strengthen us to choose life and compassion, that we 
may be bold enough to hear the confessions that come from prisons, 
concentration camps, and college campuses. In their lonely stories, 
Lord, help us to see part of ourselves, for we are united in You, now 
and forever.
  Amen.

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