Presidential Document2023-19799
National Days of Prayer and Remembrance, 2023
Primary source
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Published
September 12, 2023
Signed
September 7, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 175 (Tuesday, September 12, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 12, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 62443-62444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19799]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 62443]]
Proclamation 10618 of September 7, 2023
National Days of Prayer and Remembrance, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Twenty-two years ago--on September 11, 2001--2,977
precious lives were stolen from us in attacks of
deliberate evil on our Nation. On the National Days of
Prayer and Remembrance, we come together to renew our
sacred vow: Never forget. Never forget the parents,
children, spouses, friends, and loved ones we lost that
day. Never forget the heroes who stepped up to rescue
their fellow Americans and help our communities rebuild
in the hours--and years--thereafter. And never forget
our obligation to honor their memories and service by
building a safer and more secure future for all.
To all the families of the victims who have had to
endure the absence of a loved one over the last two
decades, I know that 22 years is both a lifetime and no
time at all. The very memories that help us heal can
also open up the hurt and take us back to the moment
the grief was raw--to the moment when a loved one and
their dreams were stolen from us in an instant. Today,
when that grief feels especially great, the First Lady
and I hold you close to our hearts.
We also join all those who are mourning the loss of
patriots who stepped up when their country needed them
most. My mom believed the greatest virtue of all was
courage and that someday the bravery that exists in
every heart will be summoned. For many, that day was
September 11, 2001. Patriotic citizens and first
responders ran into the searing flames and crumbling
buildings to save their fellow Americans. And in the
years that followed, thousands more served and
sacrificed to prevent another attack on the United
States.
These brave heroes remind us that--through all that has
changed over these last two decades--the enduring
resolve of the American people has never wavered. What
was destroyed in the attacks, we have repaired. What
was threatened, we have fortified. We have never ceased
in our mission to defend ourselves against those who
seek to do us harm and to deliver justice to those
responsible for attacks against our people. And during
our darkest hour, we regained our light by finding
something all too rare--unity.
Today, the charge left for all of us is to find renewal
and resolve in remembrance. For it is not enough to
only reflect on the souls we lost on September 11th; we
must also continue to build a Nation worthy of their
highest aspirations--one that remembers, for all our
flaws and disagreements, there is nothing we cannot
accomplish when we stand together and defend with all
our hearts that which makes us unique in the world: our
democracy.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 September 8,
2023, through September 10, 2023, as National Days of
Prayer and Remembrance. I ask that the people of the
United States honor the victims of September 11, 2001,
and their loved ones with prayer, contemplation,
memorial services and visits, bells, candlelight
vigils, and other activities. I invite people around
the world to join. I call on the citizens of our Nation
to give thanks for our many freedoms and blessings, and
I invite all people of
[[Page 62444]]
faith to join me in asking for God's continued
guidance, mercy, and protection.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-19799
Filed 9-11-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 12, 2023.
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