[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 8, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20713-20714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09893]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 89 / Tuesday, May 8, 2018 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 20713]]


                Proclamation 9741 of May 3, 2018

                
National Day of Prayer, 2018

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On this National Day of Prayer, we join together to 
                offer gratitude for our many blessings and to 
                acknowledge our need for divine wisdom, guidance, and 
                protection. Prayer, by which we affirm our dependence 
                on God, has long been fundamental to our pursuit of 
                freedom, peace, unity, and prosperity. Prayer sustains 
                us and brings us comfort, hope, peace, and strength. 
                Therefore, we must cherish our spiritual foundation and 
                uphold our legacy of faith.

                Prayer has been a source of guidance, strength, and 
                wisdom since the founding of our Republic. When the 
                Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia to 
                contemplate freedom from Great Britain, the delegates 
                prayed daily for guidance. Their efforts produced the 
                Declaration of Independence and its enumeration of the 
                self-evident truths that we all cherish today. We 
                believe that all men and women are created equal and 
                endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
                rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
                happiness. Prayer sustained us and gave us the strength 
                to endure the sacrifices and suffering of the American 
                Revolution and to temper the triumph of victory with 
                humility and gratitude. Notably, as one of its first 
                acts, our newly formed Congress appointed chaplains of 
                the House of Representatives and Senate so that all 
                proceedings would begin with prayer.

                As a Nation, we have continued to seek God in prayer, 
                including in times of conflict and darkness. At the 
                height of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 
                called for prayer ``for the vision to see our way 
                clearly--to see the way that leads to a better life for 
                ourselves and for all our fellow men--and to the 
                achievement of His will to peace on earth.'' Decades 
                later, following one of the darkest days in our 
                Nation's history, President George W. Bush offered this 
                prayer for our heartbroken country, mourning the 
                precious souls who perished in the terrorist attacks on 
                September 11, 2001: ``We ask Almighty God to watch over 
                our Nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all 
                that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and 
                console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for 
                each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life 
                to come.''

                America has known peace, prosperity, war, and 
                depression--and prayer has sustained us through it all. 
                May our Nation and our people never forget the love, 
                grace, and goodness of our Maker, and may our praise 
                and gratitude never cease. On this National Day of 
                Prayer, let us come together, all according to their 
                faiths, to thank God for His many blessings and ask for 
                His continued guidance and strength.

                In 1988, the Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as 
                amended, called on the President to issue each year a 
                proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a 
                National Day of Prayer, ``on which the people of the 
                United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation 
                at churches, in groups, and as individuals.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3 as a 
                National Day of Prayer. I encourage all Americans to 
                observe this day, reflecting on the blessings our 
                Nation has received and the importance of prayer, with 
                appropriate

[[Page 20714]]

                programs, ceremonies, and activities in their houses of 
                worship, communities, and places of work, schools, and 
                homes.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                third day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand 
                eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States 
                of America the two hundred and forty-second.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2018-09893
Filed 5-7-18; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F8-P