Francis of Assisi's Prayer

The prayer of Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

LORD, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O DIVINE MASTER,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

What does it take to have peace?

“Keeping peace in a family requires patience, love, understanding and at least two television sets with remote controls.”

Peace in any family whether biological or community involves two coordinates:  “proper attitude and productive, tangible actions resulting from that attitude.”

PEACE demands that we seek to understand whether we are understood or not.  Peace remembers that it is more important to get in the first thought than it is to have the last word.  Yes, peace requires patience, love and understanding.

The prayers that we live ON OUR FEET are just as important as THOSE SAID ON OUR KNEES.  Peace has a tangible price “at least two television sets”…actions that are expressed in our contributing time in acts of kindness…sometimes with our money…and always with our efforts.

“So faith, by itself, if it has no works is dead.”  James 2:17