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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.
Although there is no ancient manuscript in existence which
definitively proves that St. Francis of
Assisi
wrote the familiar text known as THE PEACE PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS, there
is ample evidence in the early biographies which proves that he lived
this compelling Gospel prayer in all its demanding fullness.
It would be a
rewarding study to return to some of the Franciscan sources and
rediscover our Seraphic Father’s methods for sowing love, nurturing
hope, cultivating peace and bringing forth joy.
But the forward-moving Francis would have us take our
research even further – into our homes and work places, parish centers
and neighborhoods – to name just a few fields ripe for the sowing of
Gospel goodness. May our
generous efforts to follow this great peace-making Saint in spiritual
sowing bring forth a great harvest of pardon and peace, joy and hope, in
and through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and source of eternal
Life.
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