Saint Francis

I came across Saint Francis of Assisi’s prayer in the morning of December 21, 2012, while attending a retreat at the Franciscan Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There are often fortuitous moments in life and this was one of them. As I entered the building that morning, having walked the labyrinth for a second time after our 4:12 am group walk, I realized that I was late for the prayers. While waiting outside the conference room, my whole being became riveted on Saint Francis’s prayer.

Prayer of St. Francis

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

 

Coincidentally enough, as I read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth on the way back home that evening, Eckhart mentioned [Master] Jesus’s concept of ‘eternal life’ (page 81).

“Once you realize and accept that all structures (forms) are unstable, even the seemingly solid material ones, peace arises within you. This is because the recognition of the impermanence of all forms awakens you to the dimension of the formless within yourself, that which is beyond death. [Master] Jesus called it “eternal life.”

Voici, pour ceux qui le souhaitent, une version de la prière de Saint François d’Assise en français.

Seigneur, fais de moi un instrument de Ta paix,

Là où il y a la haine, que je mette l’Amour,
Là où il y a l’offense, que je mette le pardon,
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l’union,
Là où il y a l’erreur, que je mette la vérité,
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi,
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l’espérance,
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette la lumière,
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.

O Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant
A être consolé…qu’à consoler
A être compris…qu’à comprendre
A être aimé…qu’à aimer.

Car,
C’est en donnant…qu’on reçoit
C’est en s’oubliant…qu’on trouve
C’est en pardonnant…qu’on est pardonné
C’est en mourant…qu’on ressuscite à l’éternelle vie.

http://www.imagesetmots.fr/pages/litterature/prieres.htm