[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  Reverend Avelino Gonzalez, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Washington, 
D.C., offered the following prayer:
  Dear Lord, God of history, and our Father:
  Culture is that particular form of human endeavor in which mankind 
elevates to the state of excellence the four dimensions of his personal 
life: his relationship with his neighbor, with his environment, with 
himself, and with his transcendent Creator. In doing so, mankind forms 
the essential values that define not just a nation, but civilization.
  Inspire us today, O Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, the men and women 
that serve this Nation in this House of Representatives, that they may 
recognize and promote the most noble and authentic of human values. 
Give this governing body the proper vision of the human person so that 
all the deliberations today, and always, may elevate the culture of 
this great Nation and inspire its citizens to moral excellence. We ask 
this in Your most holy and eternal name.
  Amen.

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