Thoughts and Prayers of St Francis
Thoughts and Prayers of St Francis
Prayer of St Francis of Assisi
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.
Thoughts of St Francis
It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.
I have been all things unholy.
If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
Above all the grace and the gifts
that Christ gives to his beloved
is that of overcoming self.
No one is to be called an enemy,
all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm.
You have no enemy except yourselves.
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity,
you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.