Thursday, May 17, 2012

St Francis on Peace for 21st century


The Road Less Traveled to Peace More Tranquil

God of all, make me as an instrument of intrinsic peace.
Where there is hatred, let me offer love.
Where there is injury, let me offer compassion.
Where there is doubt, let me offer a human embrace.
Where there is despair, let me offer a holding heart.
Where there is darkness, let me offer the contentment of presence.
Where there is sadness, let me offer the envelope of kindness.
O Divine Leader and Model,
grant that I may first console, and then find I am consoled and consoling;
grant that I may first understand, and then be understood and understanding;
that I may first love, then be loved and loving.
For it is in giving that we receive, and in receiving we give again
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned and become pardoners
and it is in being willing to die that we rise from dead things and
are born anew now to Eternal Loving and Living.
Amen.

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.