The [Guest Chaplain] Reverend Louis V. Iasiello, President, Washington Theological Union, Washington, DC, offered the following prayer:

     Most good and gracious God, You bless us and guide us at every moment of our lives, and most especially at times of great trial and adversity.

     We thank You for the priceless gift of this great Nation and for the constitutional principles that guide it. We thank Thee for the many liberties that mark us as a blessed and a free people, and for myriad patriots who have worn the sacred cloth of military service throughout our proud history, citizen warriors who have defended those freedoms against the tyrannies of days past and those who continue the good fight this very day. We know their service honors You, for it stands as yet one more sign of the great bounty that is the United States of America.

     And so at this troublesome time of national emergency, in the current struggle against global extremism, we ask for the strength to face adversity with pure and sincere hearts that You might empower us to be a light for all the nations and build a world with justice and peace for men and women of good will everywhere. So help us God, amen.