Prayer Of The Month

A Prayer In The Franciscan Tradition

This well-known prayer is often called the Prayer of St Francis, although there is insufficient evidence to attribute it directly to St Francis of Assisi (d.1226).

Nevertheless it expresses well the kind of challenging lifestyle that St Francis followed, in obedience to his Divine Master Jesus Christ.

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 and
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.

To think about.....

It has been said that this prayer is "one of the best loved but least put into practice" of Christian prayers. Do you agree? Why do you think this might be?

The image of sowing seeds (of love, faith, hope and so on) suggests that God's peace may be something that starts small and takes time to grow. Does this help us as we look at the reality of evil in the world and wonder how we can make a difference?

How do you understand the apparent paradoxes of 'in giving we receive' and 'in pardoning we are pardoned'? Can you find examples in your own experience?