[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 17 (Monday, May 5, 2008)]
[Pages 630-632]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the National Day of Prayer

May 1, 2008

    Good morning. Welcome to the White House. And I am honored to join 
you for the National Day of Prayer. I'm sorry Laura's not here. She's 
out selling her book. [Laughter]
    Shirley, thank you very much for being the chairman of the National 
Day of Prayer. Glad you brought old Jim with you. [Laughter] Dr. 
Zacharias, thank you for being the honorary chairman. I appreciate the 
members of my Cabinet who are here today. Thank you all for coming. It's 
good to see Members of the United States Senate and the House of 
Representatives. Appreciate you all taking time out of your busy 
schedule to come by. It's always good to be with you.
    I want to thank our military chaplains who are with us. Thank you 
for doing the Lord's work with our troops. I'm proud to have prayer 
leaders here. Rabbi Fishman, thank you; it's good to see you again, sir. 
Father Coughlin, from the United States House of Representatives, it's 
good to see you, sir. I want to thank Pastor Mays, who will be following

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me here shortly, for coming. I'm looking forward to hearing the choir of 
Saint Patrick's Cathedral of New York City, New York. It's going to be a 
great moment to have this East Room filled with joy of song. And so I 
welcome them here today.
    On this day, Americans come together to thank our Creator for our 
Nation's many blessings. We are a blessed nation. And on this day, we 
celebrate our freedoms, particularly the freedom to pray in public and 
the great diversity of faith found in America. I love being the 
President of a country where people feel free to worship as they see 
fit. And I remind our fellow citizens, if you choose to worship or not 
worship, and no matter how you worship, we're all equally American.
    I think one of the interesting things about a National Day of Prayer 
is it does help describe our Nation's character to others. We are a 
prayerful nation. A lot of citizens draw comfort from prayer. Prayer is 
an important part of the lives of millions of Americans. You know, it's 
interesting, when you think about our faith, you can find it in the 
Pledge of Allegiance, you can find an expression of American faith in 
the Declaration of Independence, and you can find it in the coins in our 
pockets. I used to carry coins--[laughter]--about 10 months, I'll be 
carrying them again. [Laughter]
    The fidelity to faith has been present in our Nation's leaders from 
its very start. Upon assuming the Presidency, George Washington took the 
oath of office and then added the famous plea, ``So help me God.'' On 
John Adams's first day in the White House, he wrote a prayer that is now 
etched in marble on the fireplace in the State Dining Room. And he 
prayed, ``May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.'' 
Now, we'll leave it to the historians to judge whether or not that 
happened throughout our history. [Laughter]
    During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln turned to prayer. His second 
Inaugural Address quoted from Scripture. He stood before the United 
States people and quoted from Scripture. And he sought to heal a people 
who ``read the same Bible and prayed to the same God''--his words.
    As William McKinley lay dying from an assassin's bullet, one of his 
final words on Earth focused on the Almighty. On his deathbed he was 
heard to say, ``Nearer, my God, to thee.''
    As American forces risked their lives on D-day, Franklin Roosevelt 
delivered a Presidential prayer over the radio. He asked God to protect 
our troops as they liberated ``a suffering humanity,'' and he prayed for 
``a peace that will let all men live in freedom.'' When Roosevelt died, 
his successor, Harry Truman, said he ``felt like the moon, the stars, 
and all the planets'' had fallen on him. He told reporters: ``Boys, if 
you ever pray, pray for me now.''
    John F. Kennedy attended mass in Florida during the last week of his 
Presidency--and during the last week of his life. It was at that mass 
that he heard the parable where the--our Lord compared the Kingdom of 
Heaven to a mustard seed that grew into a large tree and offered shelter 
to God's creatures.
    Three days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, Laura 
and I joined our fellow citizens in prayer before the Lord. It was in 
the middle hour of our grief. We prayed for those who were missing. We 
prayed for the dead. We prayed for those who loved them. I recall the 
words of a woman from New York, who said, ``I prayed to God to give us a 
sign that He is still here.''
    Well, sometimes God's signs are not always the ones we look for. And 
we learn in tragedy that His purposes are not always our own. But we 
also know that in adversity, we can find comfort through prayer.
    Over the last 7 years, our country has faced many trials. And time 
and time again, we have turned to prayer and found strength and 
resilience. We prayed with those who've lost everything in natural 
disasters and helped them heal and recover and build. We prayed for our 
brave and brilliant troops who died on the field of battle. We lift up 
their families in prayer. And as we pray for God's continued blessings 
on our country, I think it makes sense to hope that one day there may be 
a international day of prayer; that one day the national prayer--
[applause]. It would be a chance for people of faith around the world to 
stop at the same time to pause to praise an Almighty. It would be a time 
when we

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could prayer together for a world that sees the promise of the Psalms 
made real: ``Your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your 
truth.''
    I want to thank you all for coming. I particularly want to thank you 
for your prayers. You know, somebody asked me one time when I was 
there--over seeing the Sea of Galilee, they said, ``What did you think 
about when you were there, Mr. President?'' I said, ``I have finally 
understood the story of the calm on the rough seas.'' I may have been a 
little hardheaded at times, but I'm absolutely convinced it was the 
prayers of the people who helped me understood, in turbulence you can 
find calm and strength. And I thank you for those prayers.

Note: The President spoke at 10:12 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Shirley Dobson, chairman, National 
Day of Prayer Task Force, and her husband, James; Ravi Zacharias, 
honorary chairman, National Day of Prayer Task Force; Rabbi Lyle 
Fishman, Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD; and Pastor Steve 
Mays, senior pastor, Cavalry Chapel South Bay, Gardena, CA. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
these remarks.