[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 186 (Thursday, December 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H14253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord our God, down through the ages stories have grown in the 
retelling and legends have been handed down with little or no 
foundation in truth.
  Many trace the icon status of Father Christmas coming from the Dutch 
Protestants in New Amsterdam in the American colonies as the story 
traveled back to England. All we truly know about St. Nicholas was his 
generosity and kindness toward children as a fourth century bishop in 
Myra, now a part of Turkey. By the ninth century his fame and devotion 
had spread throughout Europe. He remains a patron saint in Greece and 
Russia to this day.
  On this feast of St. Nicholas, we ask Your blessing upon all 
children. May their stories be treasured, their hopes and dreams 
preserved, and their innocence protected from all violence, poverty, 
and exploitation.
  May this joyous season help all of us remember before all else, we 
are first Your children, Father of us all, now and forever.
  Amen.

                          ____________________