[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9658]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God, a new day of promise has dawned. Bless the important work 
of Congress which they need to finish before spring recess. May its 
laws and resolutions make this Nation stronger and its future brighter, 
especially for the next generation. May the seeds planted today be our 
contentment and the promise of new life flourish beyond our imagining.
  We pray also for the future of Iraq. Put an end to the killing and 
civil strife. May Your divine Providence guide the cooperation of many 
diverse peoples to create a new day of freedom built upon truth and 
justice for all the Iraqi people.
  Lord, fulfill in our own day the future vision of the prophet 
Jeremiah. The man of tears once stood in the rubble of the city he 
loved and cried aloud for future generations to hear: ``The days are 
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with my people. 
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts. No 
longer will they need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know 
the Lord. I will forgive their evil doing and remember their sin no 
more.''
  May the renewal of this covenant as celebrated in Passover and Easter 
bring a new understanding and purpose as America prays for the Iraqi 
people and peace. Amen.

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