Message from the Chaplain
The Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
To serve as Chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives is truly an honor and a privilege. To be both a minister of the Lord and an officer serving the United States government responds to a twofold call to serve others and offer prayer that unites Heaven and Earth.
With 435 Members in the House and their staffs, plus all the other wonderful people who serve here with committee work or in the Chamber, including teenage Pages, my pastoral duties are many and varied. My goal is to meet the needs of this working community on a personal level. The problems that weigh on hearts and the confusion that at times blocks clarity of thinking become my concerns.
The formal prayer before each legislative session of Congress, and even before days of pro forma sessions, casts a light on the day that awakens faith and calls forth a nation to stand with its leaders and affirm: “In God We Trust.” But daily prayer for the Members of the House cannot end there.
I ask people across this great country to join me in praying for the Members of the House of Representatives. Know the Member of your congressional district by name and raise his or her name before God each day with us here in the nation’s capital.
Pray for me, also, that I may be always rooted in prayer and a good instrument for accomplishing God’s holy will here. Only by being free in the Spirit can I serve all the people here, regardless of their faith persuasion or denomination. Only by listening attentively to each person can I offer good counsel, encouragement, and gentle correction.
Thank you for your interest in and support of the Members of the House.
Opening Prayer
06/26/2009
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Lord God You hold all in good order yet you give us the freedom of choice in the realm of good conscience.
It seems You achieve Your own good purposes in and through Your people whether or not they know Your guidance or wait to learn from their own mistakes.
Be with all Your people today in the decisions they make as a free people.
Provide them with insight on how to use their many blessings.
Even though You guide them by your Spirit hold them accountable for their deeds before Your divine tribunal and in the realm of democratic forum and public opinion.
By personal integrity and right judgment help all Americans to establish credence before other nations; so that seeing our good deeds may they glorify You our God, as our protector and guide, now and forever. Amen.
Thought of the Day
“If you want to know what is meant by "God's will", this is one way to get a good idea of it. "God's will" is certainly found in anything that is required of us in order that we may be united with one another in love. ...Everything that is demanded of me, in order that I may treat every other person effectively as a human being, "is willed for me by God under the natural law." ...I must learn to share with others their joys, their sufferings, their ideas, their needs, their desires. I must learn to do this not only in the cases of those who are of the same class, the same profession, the same race, the same nation as myself, but when those who suffer belong to other groups, even to groups that are regarded as hostile. If I do this, I obey God. If I refuse to do it, I disobey Him. It is not therefore a matter left open to subjective caprice.”
—Thomas Merton
New Seeds of Contemplation
Featured Events
Friday Rosary in Ford
07/10/2009, 11:45 am
119A FordPlease join us to pray the Rosary in the Ford building on Friday, July 10 at 11:45 am.
All are welcome. It takes only 20 minutes for this time of prayer. We have extra rosaries and prayer sheets.
For more information, contact Karen Bronson at 6–4835 or Karen.Bronson@Mail.house.gov
Sponsored by the Office of the House ChaplainMuslim Congregational Service
07/03/2009, 12:30 PM
HC-5 The CapitolOpen to Congressional Members and Staff
For more information contact J. Saleh Williams at saleh.williams@mail.house.govRosary Group
07/01/2009, 11:00 am
H-234, The Congressional Prayer RoomMembers and staff are invited to join Chaplain Coughlin each Wednesday at 11:00 am to pray the Rosary in H–234, the Congressional Prayer Room.
Praying the Rosary is a way to reflect on the life of Christ through the perspective of Mary. It only takes twenty minutes for this traditional time of prayer.
We welcome all who are interested, those who regularly pray the Rosary and those who wish to learn. We have prayer sheets and rosaries available.
If you have any questions, please call Karen Bronson in the Chaplain's Office at 6–4835. Or email Karen.Bronson@mail.house.gov
Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain.
The Congressional Prayer Room is located off the Capitol Rotunda. When in the Rotunda, go through the doorway flanked by Lincoln, Grant and the POW flag. H–234 is on the left.