[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6749]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Today we bless You and praise You Lord for friends. Friendship is a 
gift, Lord, freely given by one person to another. Not merited, not 
purchased, never manipulated, never demanded, friendship is uncovered 
in mutual self-revelation and common exchange. Desirous of the comfort 
found in another's companionship and tested by time, friendship 
spontaneously grows from within.
  Friends truly know who we are. Friends stand with each other in good 
times and in bad times. True friends tell the truth without ever 
hurting. We steer friends away from what is wrong and seek only what is 
good for their friends.
  Lord, strengthen Members of Congress with friends who will prove 
faithful no matter what transpires. Give them friends who will support 
them when they are right in spite of pressure from others and who will 
correct them when they are wrong no matter who agrees with them.
  A friend may not change your taste, your reading, or your opinion, 
but a true friend will change what you long for and what you love. As 
different as they are from each other, true friends will accept each 
other as they are and share their differences--until they simply enjoy 
being together.
  Lord, for lasting friends of the past, those we hold in friendship 
now and those we are yet to meet, we thank You, both now and forever. 
Amen.

                          ____________________