- 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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- This prayer is popularly called the Prayer of St. Francis (who lived in the 13th century), but the farthest back it can be traced (according to Wikipedia) is 1912, when it was published as an anonymous prayer in a small french spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Bell.) I took the time to really read it carefully, and to consider what it would mean to live this out. And my conclusion is: my love is too small. I'm so aware of this every day as I see my secret thoughts. I can be jealous of a friend, selfish with my time, unconcerned for lost people who need kindness, unfocused in my pursuit of Christ. I don't know how to grow my love exactly but I know some part of it is connected to being filled with the Spirit of God and being changed into the image of Jesus. If I could understand how much God loved me, and live in that knowledge, it would compel me to love as naturally as I breath. I don't want to go through the motions of love, I want to truly have this quality so that no matter what the situation I can be what is needed. Love is the essence of life, what makes it worthwhile. And my heart can be so hard, out of fear mostly, but I want to be soft again, and compassionate, and whole, because of Love.
