National Day of Prayer, 2014

Proclamation 9117 of April 30, 2014

National Day of Prayer, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

One of our Nation's great strengths is the freedom we
hold dear, including the freedom to exercise our faiths
freely. For many Americans, prayer is an essential act
of worship and a daily discipline.

Today and every day, prayers will be said for comfort
for those who mourn, healing for those who are sick,
protection for those who are in harm's way, and
strength for those who lead. Today and every day,
forgiveness and reconciliation will be sought through
prayer. Across our country, Americans give thanks for
our many blessings, including the freedom to pray as
our consciences dictate.

As we give thanks for our liberties, we must never
forget those around the world, including Americans, who
are being held or persecuted because of their
convictions. Let us remember all prisoners of
conscience today, whatever their faiths or beliefs and
wherever they are held. Let us continue to take every
action within our power to secure their release. And
let us carry forward our Nation's tradition of
religious liberty, which protects Americans' rights to
pray and to practice our faiths as we see fit.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has
called on the President to issue each year a
proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a
``National Day of Prayer.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2014, as a
National Day of Prayer. I invite the citizens of our
Nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own
faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and
blessings, and I join all people of faith in asking for
God's continued guidance, mercy, and protection as we
seek a more just world.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.