Let us pray,

Most Gracious and loving God, we pause to give thanks and to ask your blessings upon this glorious occasion. We pause to acknowledge you as the architect of our achievements and the inspiration for the works of our hands and minds.

We pause to thank you for the vision and leadership of our President H. Patrick Swygert, the Board of Trustees and the men and women whose contributions have made what once was a dream, into a living reality.

We thank you for Congressman Louis Stokes for whom this building is named. We give thanks for what he has meant to this university, to this nation and to this world.

As we contemplate our rich history and gaze upon this marvelous achievement, the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library, you give us hope and the courage to believe that our greatest accomplishments lie not in our yesterdays but in what we call today and what will be our tomorrow.

We ask your blessings upon this library and we pray that those who hunger and thirst after knowledge will be fed in this place. The books and resources found here will inspire great ideas, great dreams and great vision. We pray that the this library will be a place of refuge for those who understand that a disciplined heart and mind are needed to meet the challenges of our day and to build a better tomorrow.

We give to you not only this building, we give to you our lives.
Bless now the works of our hands and minds.

Bernard L. Richardson
Dean of the Chapel