Make me an instrument of peace...

I am posting this anonymously for a very special person:

She wrote to me:

"I didn't want to publicly post something it feels like praying in public to me. But for Theo......

I visited a disabled person and bought groceries to take to the home.  I cleared the snow from the sidewalk and front porch and while I was there.

I changed the sheets and made the bed, fixed a small meal and walked the dog.

I also called my sister and forgave her for telling a lie about me after she had apologized to me and said, 'I don't know why I said that about you.'

My prayer is to be more forgiving than forgiven and more tolerant of others who are emotionally challenged by life."

I love these kindnesses and knowing who did them and why, makes them even more special to me.  I sent her a message telling her that her kindnesses and her comments about them reminded me of St. Francis of Assisi's famous prayer, that, no matter what a person's religion is, can certainly be applicable in any time and place. If we all prayed this prayer earnestly every day--even if we are praying it to ourselves--the world would be a better place.

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.
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.
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