THE PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS

Today’s meditation is a prayer with which you are probably already familiar. It is known as the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, and it certainly is a good season for us to reflect on its message. Perhaps there will be ONE SPECIFIC LINE which speaks directly to your spirit during your time of meditation. Take a few moments to hold it in your heart. Speak it out loud. Carry it with you for the remainder of your day. And thank you for your time, focus, and the generosity of your spirit during these days of meditation and prayer.

Lord, make me an instrument of your 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.
Amen.

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St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), who abandoned a life of great wealth and privilege to pursue a life of poverty and care for the poor, is “one of the most venerated religious figures in Roman Catholic history.” The Franciscan orders were established under his example and leadership, and he was recognized in 1979 by Pope John Paul II as the patron saint of ecology.

Source: Ignatius Charles Brady and Lawrence Cunningham. “St. Francis of Assisi.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 29 Sept 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-of-Assisi. Accessed 4 October 2020.