St Francis Prayer for Peace

I recently attended a visitation for a good friend.  The card his family prepared had St. Francis’ famous Prayer for Peace:

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.

It’s a lovely prayer, and one most appropriate for a pilgrim fighting against intolerance. 

And, in the Christian season of Advent – the waiting period for the commemoration of the birth of Jesus – there is a LOT of talk about peace.

And, well there should be.

Peace is a synonym for Tolerance.  Violence is a synonym for Intolerance.  War is the obscene worst-case example of Intolerance.

In this Season of Peace, let us meditate on Francis’ words:  Love.  Pardon.  Faith.  Hope.  Light.  Joy.  Carrying it on:  Console.  Understand.  Love (again!).  Giving.  Pardoning.

And, finally, dying. 

Each one of us will, at some point, shake off this mortal coil.  But while we still take a breath, we can and should die to hatred, injury, doubt, despair, darkness and sadness. 

We can die to intolerance and live to bring respect, love and peace into our corner of the world.

It’s what Frank would have wanted us to do…..