[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S32-S33]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Remembering Thomas S. Monson

  Mr. FLAKE. Madam President, I rise today to honor the selfless and 
dedicated life of Thomas S. Monson, the 16th president of the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  After nearly seven decades of church leadership and service, 
President Monson passed away on Tuesday evening. Millions of members of 
the LDS Church around the globe mourn his passing as we celebrate his 
life.
  There is much that can be said about what President Monson taught us 
from the pulpit. There is much more to be learned about what he did 
when he wasn't speaking--the sick whom he visited, the weary he 
sustained, the jobless he aided, and the homeless he sheltered.
  A reoccurring theme throughout his life and his ministry was ``the 
rescue.'' He spoke movingly of a painting he had seen in a gallery in 
England that featured, as he described it, ``heavy-laden black clouds 
and the fury of a turbulent sea portending danger and death. A life 
from a stranded vessel gleaming far off. In the foreground, tossed high 
by incoming waves of foaming water, a large lifeboat, men pulling 
mightily on the oars plunging into the tempest. On the shore stands a 
wife and two children, wet with rain and whipped by wind. They gaze 
anxiously seaward.''
  ``In my mind,'' President Monson said, ``I abbreviated the name of 
the painting. To me, it became ``To the Rescue.''
  Throughout his life, President Monson went to the rescue of those in 
need. He possessed a genuine love for those who were sad, downtrodden, 
and less fortunate.
  He was quoted as saying:

       I firmly believe that the sweetest experience in mortality 
     is to know that our Heavenly Father has worked through us to 
     accomplish an objective in the life of another person.


[[Page S33]]


  This, he took to heart. In his early years of church service, 
President Monson presided over a congregation with 85 widows. Although 
he was their appointed church leader for just a few short years, the 
love he felt for those widows was evident. He continued to visit each 
widow throughout her remaining life and was present at the funeral for 
each of his dear friends.
  He encouraged all of us to ``extend the hand that helps and the heart 
that knows compassion.'' My colleagues here would be interested to know 
that President Monson often quoted Abraham Lincoln saying: ``If you 
would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his 
sincere friend.''
  President Monson's example of service and rescue was recognized by 
many world leaders. In an effort to promote America's spirit of 
generosity, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to his Task Force on 
Private Sector Initiatives. President Monson met with religious leaders 
of all faiths to talk about the welfare program of the church, which 
has been recognized as being highly successful in its scope and in its 
mission.
  In closing, President Monson's daughter, Ann Monson Dibb, observed 
how her father embodied the Scripture in James that reads: ``Pure 
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the 
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world.'' There is no better description of the life 
and legacy of Thomas S. Monson. May we do the same by rushing to the 
rescue of those in need.
  I yield the floor.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.