[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Divine Maker, in and through Your Word, all comes into being. Fragile 
as the autumn leaf in the wind, faith carries us as individuals and a 
Nation.
  Every breath of life is dependent upon You and the air we breathe in 
as our very own.
  Free us, Lord, from the dread of anthrax and other biological evil.
  Lift the cloud of anxiety from this city and the Nation, that we may 
again breathe in deeply a sense of Your spirit guiding us from within.
  Let us exhale all sins of the past and all our burdens, purifying our 
souls until we are thoroughly recreated for Your service.
  Lord, grant the Members of this House and all the American people a 
sense of gratitude for our brothers and sisters who serve on this hill 
and across this Nation as postal workers. May we never take them or 
their service to this country for granted.
  With them and their families we mourn the loss of their companions, 
faithful servants of Yours, who now approach You for their service 
rendered and a just reward. May their lives and sacrificial deaths 
bring all of us a deeper sense of civic pride in daily work, a renewed 
commitment to a safer work environment and a bright promise of peace 
which overcomes the darkness of terror now and forever. Amen.

                          ____________________