[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Have we hardened our hearts, O Lord?
  You have said: ``If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not 
your hearts.''
  Once the heart is deadened by indifference to Your Word or to the cry 
of a neighbor in need, where do we find ourselves? Alone and cold.
  How are we to find happiness? Only love can melt the hardened heart.
  When the adventure of sensual love has run its course or unfaithful 
love stabs betrayal, the heart may become paralyzed or broken.
  In the stillness, Lord, quiet memory brings us back to You. Believing 
we are born out of love and have searched for its fulfillment all life 
long, moments of true love once found in truth and beauty fall into 
place. Your grace then steps through the open cracks and we come to 
know by heart:
  ``I am with you''--now and forever. Amen.

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