The Prayer of St. Francis

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light,

and Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh 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."

Francis of Assisi, the presumed author of the above prayer, challenged his generation to live in complete submission to Christ. Following the lead of the humble, mendicant from Assisi, Franciscan friars fanned out across Europe proclaiming a simple Gospel and calling Christians to a deeper walk with Christ. Francis espoused a lifestyle of trust, submission, humility, love, and peace in a violent era. His life stood in stark contrast to the force of the Crusades and coercion of the emerging Inquisition.

Francis's prayer calls to my mind Paul's admonition in Colossians 3:12-17.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
--Colossians 3: 12-17

Like Francis, we live in a fractured, contentious world were compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and peace are in short supply. As disciples of Christ we are called to be witness to His grace, His love, and His peace in word and deed.

By
Dr. Stephen Stookey

May the words of the Apostle Paul and the prayer of a wandering beggar for Christ challenge you and me to demonstrate Christ-likeness in all we do, in word or deed.