[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2006)]
[Pages 850-851]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the National Day of Prayer

May 4, 2006

    Welcome to the White House. I am really glad you're here. Thanks for 
coming. And I'm honored to join you for the National Day of Prayer. On 
this special day, we give thanks for the many ways that America has been 
blessed, and we acknowledge the Almighty, who is the source of these 
blessings.
    I appreciate the chairman of the National Day of Prayer, Shirley 
Dobson. I notice you brought your old husband with you too. [Laughter] 
Thank you for organizing this event here at the White House and around 
the Nation.
    Mrs. Bright, it's good to see you. Thank you; welcome. I'm glad 
you're back again. Dr. Blackaby, thank you very much, sir, for being the 
honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. And we 
welcome Marilynn as well.
    I want to thank the members of the Cabinet who are here. Thank you 
all for coming. Appreciate you taking time out of your day to be here to 
join.
    I'm glad to see my friend Archbishop Demetrios. How are you, sir? 
Thanks for coming. I appreciate the military chaplains who are here. 
Thanks for administering to the needs and souls of the men and women who 
wear the uniform. Yours is an important job, and I'm grateful, as your 
Commander in Chief, for what you do.
    I want to thank Rabbi Ciment, Father Connor, and Jay Dennis for 
joining us. Thank you for your prayers and your strong statements.
    I thank Rebecca St. James for your beautiful music. We're proud 
you're here. I want to thank those who accompanied you. About the coat--
[laughter]--your answer is, it's the voice that matters--[laughter]--and 
the spirit behind the voice.
    And, Gail, thank you for coming as well. We're proud you're here. 
Thanks for sharing with us.
    America is a nation of prayer. It's impossible to tell the story of 
our Nation without telling the story of people who pray. The first 
pilgrims came to this land with a yearning for freedom. They stepped 
boldly onto the shores of a New World, and many of them fell to their 
knees to give thanks.
    At decisive moments in our history and in quiet times around family 
tables, we are a people humbled and strengthened and blessed by prayer. 
During the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, the Continental 
Congress and George Washington--I call him the first George W.--
[laughter]--urged citizens to pray and to give thanks and to ask for 
God's protection.
    More than two centuries since our first National Day of Prayer and 
Thanksgiving, we continue to ask for God's guidance in our own lives and 
in the life our Nation. Each year, thousands of citizens write letters 
and send cards to the White House that mention their prayers for this 
Nation and this Office.

[[Page 851]]

    In my travels across the great land, a comment that I hear often 
from our fellow citizens is, ``Mr. President, I pray for you and your 
family.'' It's amazing how many times a total stranger walks up and says 
that to me. You'd think they'd say, ``How about the bridge?'' or ``How 
about filling the potholes?'' [Laughter] No, they say, ``I've come to 
tell you I pray for you, Mr. President.''
    And the only thing I know to do is to look at them in the eye and 
say, ``That is the greatest gift that a fellow citizen can do for those 
of us who have been entrusted to lead our country.'' And for that--
[applause]. And so I thank thanks--I say thanks to the millions of 
Americans who pray each day for our Nation, our troops, and our elected 
leaders.
    Prayer is a gift from Almighty God that transforms us, whether we 
bow our heads in solitude or offer swift and silent prayers in times of 
trial. Prayer humbles us by reminding us of our place in creation. 
Prayer strengthens us by reminding us that God loves and cares for each 
and every soul in His creation. And prayer blesses us by reminding us 
that there is a divine plan that stands above all human plans.
    In the stillness and peace of prayer, we surrender our will to God's 
will, and we learn to serve His eternal purposes. By opening ourselves 
to God's priorities, our hearts are stirred, and we are inspired to 
action--to feed the hungry, to reach out to the poor, to bring aid to a 
widow or to an orphan or to the less fortunate.
    On this day, we also remember that we are a people united by our 
love for freedom, even when we differ in our personal beliefs. In 
America, we are free to profess any faith we choose--or no faith at all. 
What brings us together is our shared desire to answer the call to serve 
something greater than ourselves.
    Over the past 5 years, I have watched the American people answer 
this call. Some serve their fellow man on distant shores, placing 
themselves in harm's way so that others might live in freedom. Others 
serve in our Nation's armies of compassion, bringing comfort and 
kindness to suffering communities at home and abroad. In millions of 
acts of service, the American people have shown the good heart of our 
Nation.
    From our Nation's prayerful beginnings, America has grown and 
prospered. Through prayer, we humbly recognize our continued dependence 
on divine providence.
    I want to thank you all for keeping prayer a part of our national 
life. May God bless each one of you, and may God continue to bless our 
Nation.
    And now it is my honor to welcome Reverend Jay Dennis.

Note: The President spoke at 9:44 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to James Dobson, husband of National 
Day of Prayer chairman Shirley Dobson; Vonette Bright, former chairman, 
National Day of Prayer Task Force; Marilynn Blackaby, wife of Henry T. 
Blackaby, honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force; 
Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America; 
Rabbi Sholom Ciment, director, Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Boynton, 
Boynton Beach, FL; Father Charles P. Connor, pastor, St. Rose of Lima 
Church, Carbondale, PA; Rev. Jay Dennis, pastor, First Baptist Church at 
the Mall, Lakeland, FL; gospel music entertainer Rebecca St. James; and 
entertainer Gail Richardson.