Pax Dei—Living in Peace 15 (conclusion)

Peace Prayers

I was recently in Assisi Italy. It was the weekend that John XXIII and John Paul II were canonized (26-27 April 2014). Assisi was thronging with people from what seemed like everywhere. Wall to wall humanity. Coming, perhaps for the most part, like me, to somehow connect with the life of a beloved saint who is so well-known for peace: Francis--Giovanni di Pietro di Bernadone (1181/82—1226).

As I joined the masses of people flocking through the ascending and descending medieval, stone streets, I was profoundly struck by how much we all yearn for inner peace. How much we yearn to live and work in settings of peace. And for the most part, how we yearn to be peace-makers and to know our Maker of peace. 

Pax Dei

The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis, although commonly attributed to Francis, first appeared anonymously in its present form in the French publication La Clochette in 1912. Regardless of the source, it is one of the most beloved, and recited prayers of all time.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis)

Click here for the sung version by John Michael Talbot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXyYm1yIL-g

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is error, truth;

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.

Shalom and Pax Christi!