Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 16 – The Prayer of St Francis

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

St Francis of Assisi was a man who devoted himself to poverty in order to travel and share the Gospel, the good news carried in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Many others followed his example and the Franciscan order was born.

The life of St Francis was one of simplicity and harmony with the world around him. He worked to serve and honour all those he encountered. He believed that the God created a beautiful world and that this world is broken and in need of redemption. It’s that redemption that he lived to participate in. He wished to be an instrument of God.

From that heart he wrote a prayer and today I simply want you to pray that prayer with me, hear it and even make it your own.

Let’s pray the 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
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.

Feel free to add your own prayer focused towards making a difference in the world.