Prayer of Peace (Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)

Throughout the past week, people suffered such senseless violence.   All they wanted was to spend time on the weekend with families and loved ones.  Then, in a few seconds, their lives were taken.  The predominant feelings are anger, fear, and powerlessness.  People are asking, “Who is to blame?”  Perhaps this prayer, credited to St. Francis, might give us back a sense of powerfulness that we can only find in the Divine Master.

The Peace Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the 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.