[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6661]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God, ever attentive to our deepest needs, answer the prayers of 
the Members of Congress and bring them closer and closer to You.
  Lord, once You draw souls close to You, people desire to hold on to 
Your presence, and so they pray. Then to give flesh and blood to 
prayerful sentiments and words, they enter into the realm of self-
denial.
  Finally, personal sacrifice, Lord, never seems worthwhile until it 
benefits another. So there are these three practices: prayer, fasting, 
and acts of charity. The three are really one, giving life to each 
other as they bring us closer to You, O Lord.
  Let living faith and faith-filled practice lead us to You both now 
and forever.
  Amen.

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