For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 5, 2005
President Commemorates National Day of Prayer at the White House
The East Room
9:26 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, and welcome to the White House.
Laura and I are honored to join you on this important occasion.
I want to thank Shirley Dobson, the chairman of the National Day of
Prayer. Thank you for organizing this event and thank you for your
wonderful comments. I'm glad to see you brought your husband, Jim,
with you. (Laughter.) It's good to have Vonette Bright with us,
welcome. I appreciate my fellow Texan, Max Lucado, for his wonderful
prayer. Thank you very much; welcome. I'm glad you and Denalyn are
with us. Rabbi, thank you for your reading of the psalm. It's good to
have your family here; welcome. I appreciate Father Charles Pope,
pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, here in D.C. Kind of
sounded more like a Baptist preacher to me. (Laughter and applause.)
Laura and I are proud Methodists and we're pleased to be here with
Bishop Peter Weaver, who is the president of the Council of Methodist
Bishops, who will deliver the closing prayer. Thank you.
It's such an honor to be here with the St. Olaf Choir led by Anton
Armstrong. You've got such beautiful music, thank you for sharing with
us. (Applause.) I'm sure they're having a prayerful moment right now
-- (laughter) -- praying that I hurry up and finish because they have
been standing for quite a while. (Laughter.)
The National Day of Prayer is an annual event established in 1952
by an Act of the United States Congress. Yet, this day is part of a
broader tradition that reaches back to the beginnings of America. From
the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, to the launch of the
American Revolution, the men and women who founded this nation in
freedom relied on prayer to protect and preserve it.
Today, prayer continues to play an important part in the personal
lives of many Americans. Every day, millions of us turn to the
Almighty in reverence and humility. Every day, our churches and
synagogues and mosques and temples are filled with men and women who
pray to our Maker. And almost every day, I am given a special reminder
of this great generosity of spirit when someone comes up and says, Mr.
President, I'm praying for you.
Prayer has been an important part of American public life, as
well. Many of our forefathers came to these shores seeking the freedom
to worship. The first Continental Congress began by asking the
Almighty for the wisdom that would enable them to settle things on the
best and surest foundation. And when our Founders provided that sure
foundation in the Declaration of Independence, they declared it a
self-evident truth that our right to liberty comes from God.
And so we pray as a nation for three main reasons. We pray to give
thanks for our freedom. Freedom is our birthright because the Creator
wrote it into our common human nature. No government can ever take a
gift from God away. And in our great country, among the freedoms we
celebrate is the freedom to pray as you wish, or not at all. And when
we offer thanks to our Creator for the gift of freedom, we acknowledge
that it was meant for all men and women, and for all times.
Second, we pray for help in defending the gift of freedom from
those who seek to destroy it. Washington prayed at Valley Forge.
Franklin Roosevelt sent American troops off to liberate a continent
with his D-Day prayer. Today, we pray for the troops who are defending
our freedom against determined enemies around the globe. We seek God's
blessing for the families they have left behind, and we commit to
Heaven's care those brave men and women he has called home.
AUDIENCE: Amen.
THE PRESIDENT: Finally, we pray to acknowledge our dependence on
the Almighty. Prayerful people understand the limits of human
strength. We recognize that our plans are not always God's plans.
Yet, we know that a God who created us for freedom is not indifferent
to injustice or cruelty or evil. So we ask that our hearts may be
aligned with His, and that we may be given the strength to do what is
right and help those in need. We who ask for God's help for ourselves,
have a particular obligation to care for the least of our brothers and
sisters within our midst.
During the funeral for Abraham Lincoln, Bishop Matthew Simpson
relayed a story about a minister who told our 16th President that he
hoped the Lord was on his side. Lincoln wisely replied that he was
more concerned that he was on the side of the Lord, because the Lord
was always on the side of right.
Freedom is a divine gift that carries with it a tremendous human
responsibility. The National Day of Prayer is a day that we ask that
our nation, our leaders and our people use the freedom we have been
given wisely. And so we pray as Americans have always prayed: with
confidence in God's purpose, with hope for the future, and with the
humility to ask God's help to do what is right.
Thank you for coming. May God bless. (Applause.)
END 9:32 A.M. EDT
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