[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God, our Defense and our Liberator, throughout our history as 
Americans, and even in our individual lives, You have come to our aid 
and strengthened us in the face of all our struggles against evil. Be 
with us now and always.
  The prophet Daniel offers a distinction. He said he saw You in the 
very beginning ``when the evil horn spoke arrogant words until the 
beast was slain and its body thrown into the fire. But there were other 
beasts, too, which also lost their dominion but were granted a 
prolongation of life for a time and a season.''
  Lord, we believe You always deliver us from evil. Yet each of us can 
name ``the other beasts'' described by Daniel in our history as a 
nation and in our personal lives. They may no longer have dominion to 
completely overcome us, but we know they can be granted ``a 
prolongation of life for a time.''
  Therefore, Lord, we plead for Your help to persevere for the time 
being. Sometimes in the fight we personally need to undergo treatment 
or continue therapy. For a nation, it may take time to reform, rebuild, 
or reconcile, so continue, Lord, to uphold us until evil is brought to 
its end. Amen.

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