Earlier today, I was privileged to join a few Northern Californians and several of my colleagues in attending the National Prayer Breakfast in our nation’s capital. From our early days, American leaders of different parties and faith backgrounds have called for national days of prayer and fasting. For example, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation during the midst of the Civil War. He proclaimed, “It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness,” and requested the American people “to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.” As our nation faces serious challenges, both home and abroad, I believe it still behooves Americans of faith to acknowledge and commit to the spiritual principles that have helped make our nation so great. These bedrock beliefs have guided us through difficult times in the past and I believe they can do so again.