PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY, 2013
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Since our Nation’s earliest days, America has been blessed with an unbroken
chain of patriots who have served our country with honor and distinction.
From Concord to the Korengal, generations of brave warriors have fought for
freedom across sand and snow, over mud and mountains, into lonely deserts
and through crowded streets. Today, we pay tribute to those patriots who
never came back — who fought for a home to which they never returned, and
died for a country whose gratitude they will always have.
Scripture teaches us that “greater love hath no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends.” On Memorial Day, we remember those we
have lost not only for what they fought for, but who they were: proud
Americans, often far too young, guided by deep and abiding love for their
families, for each other, and for this country. Our debt to them is one we
can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice and strive to be a
Nation equal to their example. On this and every day, we must meet our
obligations to families of the fallen; we must uphold our sacred trust with
our veterans, our service members, and their loved ones.
Above all, we can honor those we have lost by living up to the ideals they
died defending. It is our charge to preserve liberty, to advance justice,
and to sow the seeds of peace. With courage and devotion worthy of the
heroes we remember today, let us rededicate ourselves to those unending
tasks, and prove once more that America’s best days are still ahead. Let us
pray the souls of those who died in war rest in eternal peace, and let us
keep them and their families close in our hearts, now and forever.
In honor of all of our fallen service members, the Congress, by a joint
resolution approved May 11, 1950, as amended (36 U.S.C. 116), has requested
the President issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United
States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace
and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States
might unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106-579, has also
designated 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to
observe, in their own way, the National Moment of Remembrance.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America,
do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, as a day of prayer for
permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at
11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all
Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00
p.m. local time on Memorial Day.
I request the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct
that the flag be flown at half-staff until noon on this Memorial Day on all
buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and in
all areas under its jurisdiction and control. I also request the people of
the United States to display the flag at half-staff from their homes for the
customary forenoon period.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of
May, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence
of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
BARACK OBAMA
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”