[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben, offered the 
following prayer:
  Today, most merciful God, we remember those 6 million Jews and other 
minorities who cried to You, fearing that in the face of the horrendous 
genocide of the Holocaust, You had forsaken them. For years You seemed 
so far from saving them, so distant from their cries of anguish.
  Yet, amidst the horrific experiences, the heartbreak of innocent 
lives lost, the threat of torture and cruel suffering, nevertheless, 
they held fast to You and to their Jewish faith. They did not disavow 
their divine heritage, even in the face of death. Even now, as the 
Jewish community recites Kaddish for the generations lost, they 
proclaim their belief in the Sun even when it isn't shining.
  Use this annual commemoration to inspire in us such faith in the face 
of adversity, but at the same time remind us, warn us, how seductive is 
the desire for power, how natural the inclination toward hate, how 
insidious the culpability of apathy. Lead us not into the hands of our 
enemies, neither allow us to perpetuate or ignore the injustice to our 
neighbor.
  Remind us that You will not forsake Your people. You will not hide 
Your face from us, for in You do we find strength to live justly. In 
You do we find reason to live rightly.
  In Your most holy and merciful name, we pray.
  Amen.

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