The female leader of millions of Latter-day Saint children prayed for national unity Thursday as she joined other U.S. religious leaders at the White House on the National Day of Prayer.
“We pray for the leaders of this nation. Bless them, protect them and grant them wisdom,” Joy D. Jones, general president of the children’s Primary organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pleaded. “Magnify their efforts as they seek to live up to the holy charge of their vocation.”
Thursday marked the second straight year that a top Latter-day Saint leader was on hand for the interfaith event. In 2018, Jean B. Bingham, general president of the women’s Relief Society, represented the Utah-based church at the ceremony.
In her brief Rose Garden prayer, Jones also asked for blessings on the nation’s religious leaders. “Grant them the strength to shepherd their flocks in thy word,” she said. “Inspire our citizenry. Strengthen the families and communities of the United States of America.
“Please help us,” she added, “to unite as one nation under God.”
President Donald Trump’s remarks — coming just days after yet another deadly shooting at a house of faith, this one at a synagogue near San Diego — seized the opportunity to condemn “all hate and violence, particularly in our places of worship.”
