The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

07/16/2026
Reverend Jon Thomas

O God of all the nations,

Today in this House, we ask that you shed your grace on the United States of America.

We are grateful for our semiquincentennial.  We are hopeful for our future.

We are grateful for our diversity.  We are hopeful for unity.

We are grateful for “pilgrim feet” and “heroes proved in liberating strife.”  We are hopeful for open hearts and Representatives proved in cooperation.

In declaring independence from Great Britain 250 years ago, the first prayer of the Continental Congress promised that we were “desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee.”

If we turn to you as our Father, then crown our nation with brotherhood and sisterhood.

Give us unity from inspiration, not desperation.  Unite us with a common dream, not a common enemy.   Unite as a people striving for righteousness, not a people merely arguing who is right.

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Thought of the Week

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

—Thomas Aquinas

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