[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11490-11491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord, Your heavens are filled with the wide and brilliant blue, a 
common roof over all the earth, so it seems from the viewpoint of 
Capitol Hill. Spring breezes contain a purity this side of tragic 
tornados. Yet the news, like unseen pollen, carries life and discomfort 
for some in the same moment.
  Why, O Lord, is the world such a mixture of good and evil? 24/7 
communication wires the mind with stories of victory and devastation so 
quickly that human perception must choose its ground.
  Help national government, Lord, admit limitations even before it 
discerns a problem or conducts another hearing. Free choice and 
determined truth must find a balance if pluralistic democracy is to 
stand.
  So we humbly lay before You, Lord, God of heaven and earth, the 
freshness of a new day, and seek Your blessing upon those who cultivate 
a culture and plan a future for us both now and forever.
  Amen.

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