The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

05/20/2026
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Take up residence in our hearts, O God. Move out of Your way the things that are not of You: anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration. By the power of Your Holy Spirit and out of Your glorious riches, inspire us to desire only You and strengthen us to remain faithful to You alone.

May we establish our decisions and demeanor in Your truth, rooting ourselves in Your abiding love, that we would grow in faith in Your sovereign will for these days. May we recognize among us those in whom You dwell and work together with them for the common good through our common faith in You.

Be present in and among us this day, and grant us the wisdom to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Your love, surpassing all our knowledge and filling us with Your fullness.

In You we lack nothing. With You we are empowered to do all things. Abiding in You and You in us, You are the only thing to which our hearts should cling.

In Your strong and sacred name, we offer our prayers and ourselves. Amen.

Ephesians 3:17

Thought of the Week

It is not God’s way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.

—John Henry Cardinal Newman

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