[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 70 (Thursday, April 28, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROUZER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of National Day of 
Prayer next week on May 5.
  The United States has always been a Nation of prayer. From our very 
first settlers to our Founding Fathers, our leaders have understood the 
power of prayer and have consistently called the Nation to prayer 
during times of consequence, adversity, conflict, and crisis.
  Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress 
asked the colonists to pray for wisdom as they worked to form a Nation, 
the call to prayer has continued throughout our history.
  First officially established by an act of Congress and signed into 
law by President Harry S. Truman in 1952, the National Day of Prayer is 
a vital part of our country's heritage, and prayers remain very 
important in strengthening the fabric of our society today.
  I would venture to say that 90 percent of our country's challenges--
everything from drug addiction, to suicides, to infidelity, to the 
breakdown of the family, to fraud, to the coarseness and vulgarity of 
the language we see every day on television and witness in our 
communities, and even political divisiveness--all are a direct result 
of a moral and spiritual decline that can only be reversed by our 
willingness to come before God, acknowledge our sinful nature, and turn 
our hearts back to Him.
  Only then will healing begin and divisions subside. For the hubris of 
sin distorts our views of truth and creates divisions even among those 
with whom we agree most of the time.
  Our Founding Fathers understood the sinful nature of man. That is, in 
fact, why they devised a government designed to disperse power by 
creating three equal branches. Even the U.S. Congress--which is one of 
those branches--the legislative branch, has two very different bodies 
with different rules and different aims to help ensure that the 
minority voice is not trampled, and that it is at least heard if it 
cannot be accommodated.

                              {time}  1015

  Now, many ask me when we are going to fix Washington. My reply is 
always this: When we fix our home life; when we fix our churches; when 
we fix our communities, Washington will fix itself.
  Those of us who have the honor of serving in Congress are, after all, 
a reflection of our constituency, as designed by our Founders. And, 
therefore, the two bodies of Congress are no more and no less than a 
microcosm of society.
  So, on the National Day of Prayer, let us all join in prayer for our 
families, our communities, our State, and our Nation. May we pray for 
forgiveness, to seek the face of God and to turn from our inherently 
sinful ways. For when we do, we will hear, we will learn, we will 
communicate, and unhealthy traps of division of all stripes will fall 
away.
  Through the power of prayer, we will achieve a renewing of our mind, 
a renewing of our commitment to that which is honorable and virtuous, a 
renewing of the family, our societal structure, and a renewing of this 
great Nation we call the United States of America, the greatest lamp of 
liberty and beacon of freedom, prosperity, and generosity ever known to 
mankind

                          ____________________