[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 5 (Monday, February 7, 2005)]
[Pages 133-134]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

February 3, 2005

    Thank you all very much. Thank you for the warm welcome. You know, 
last night was a prayerful occasion. [Laughter] I noticed a lot of 
Members were praying that I would keep my speech short. [Laughter] I 
want to thank you for getting up so early in the morning. You resisted 
temptation to sleep in. Thanks for having us.
    I appreciate Jo Ann Emerson's leadership on this prayer breakfast. I 
want to thank Elaine Chao for her prayer and for representing my 
Cabinet. And I want to thank all my Cabinet officers who are here today. 
I appreciate the leadership of the Congress, Senator Frist and Leader 
Pelosi, Leader DeLay. I want to thank the Senators who spoke and 
appreciate the Congresspeople who are on the stage here as well.
    I want to thank His Excellency Marc Ravalomanana, from the--
Madagascar, the President of that great country. And welcome to our 
country, Mr. President. Tambien, mi amigo, the President of Honduras, 
Ricardo Maduro. Welcome. Glad you're here.
    I want to thank Wintley Phipps for his beautiful music. Sergeant 
Norman, your prayers worked. [Laughter] You did a fantastic job. Pretty 
darn eloquent for a person from Wyoming. [Laughter] Don't tell the Vice 
President. [Laughter]
    Tony Hall, as you can tell, I obviously made the right choice to 
send somebody--really good job. And Janet, thank you for your service as 
well.
    Laura and I are really honored to be here too. It's a fabulous 
moment in our Nation's Capital. This morning reminds us that prayer has 
always been one of the great equalizers in American life. Here we thank 
God for his great blessings in one voice, regardless of our backgrounds. 
We recognize in one another the spark of the Divine that gives all human 
beings their inherent dignity and worth, regardless of religion.

[[Page 134]]

    Through fellowship and prayer, we acknowledge that all power is 
temporary and must ultimately answer to His purposes. And we know that 
affirming this truth is particularly appropriate in the heart of a 
Capital built upon the promise of self-government. No one understood 
this better than Abraham Lincoln.
    In November 1864, after being reelected to his second term, Lincoln 
declared he would be ``the most shallow and self-conceited blockhead on 
Earth if he ever thought he could do his job without the wisdom which 
comes from God and not from men.'' Throughout a terrible Civil War, he 
issued many exhortations to prayer, calling upon the American people to 
humble themselves before their Maker and to serve all those in need.
    Our faith-based institutions display that same spirit of prayer and 
service in their work every day. Lincoln's call is still heard 
throughout the land. People of faith have no corner on compassion. But 
people of faith need compassion if they are to be true to their most 
cherished beliefs. For prayer means more than presenting God with our 
plans and desires, prayer also means opening ourselves to God's 
priorities, especially by hearing the cry of the poor and the less 
fortunate.
    When the tsunamis hit those on the far side of the world, the 
American Government rightly responded. But the American response is so 
much more than what our Government agencies did. Look at the list of 
organizations bringing relief to the people from Indonesia to Sri Lanka. 
They're full of religious names: Samaritan's Purse, American-Jewish 
World Service, Baptist World Aid, the Catholic Medical Mission Board. 
They do a superb job delivering relief across the borders and continents 
and cultures.
    Today, millions of people across this Earth get the help they need 
only because our faith-based institutions live the commandment to ``love 
thy neighbor as thyself.'' Often, that means remembering the people 
forgotten or overlooked in a busy world, those in Africa suffering from 
HIV/AIDS, young girls caught up in the global sex trade, victims of 
religious persecution.
    In these great moral challenges of our times, our churches, 
synagogues, mosques, and temples are providing the vision that is 
changing lives. I've seen some of their miracles up close. Last June, I 
met Veronica Braewell, a 20-year-old refugee from Liberia. As a 13-year-
old child, Veronica witnessed armed men killing children in horrific 
ways. As she fled this madness, Veronica left--was left for dead atop a 
pile of bodies, until her grandmother found her. In August 2003, 
Catholic Social Agency helped resettle her in Pennsylvania, where 
Veronica is now completing the circle of compassion by working in a home 
for elderly in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studying to become a 
certified nursing assistant.
    When Veronica told me of her story, it was through the kind of tears 
no young woman should ever know. And when she finished, she dried her 
eyes and said, ``Thank you, Mr. President, for my freedom.'' But I told 
her, it wasn't me she needed to thank; she needed to thank the good 
hearts of the United States of America. The America that embraced 
Veronica would not be possible without the prayer that drives and leads 
and sustains our armies of compassion.
    I thank you for the fine tradition you continue here today and hope 
that as a nation we will never be too proud to commend our cares to 
Providence and trust in the goodness of His plans.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 8:59 a.m. at the Washington Hilton Hotel. 
In his remarks, he referred to speaker and entertainer Wintley Phipps; 
Sgt. Douglas Norman, USA, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment; and Ambassador Tony 
P. Hall, U.S. Mission to United Nations Agencies for Food and 
Agriculture, and his wife, Janet. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.