This little prayer (known to monks, worldwide) is attributed by many to St. Francis, and is notable in that it doesn’t “ask for something;” instead it simply asks that we be allowed to channel peace to the people around us.
I’ve always thought it was a pretty robust expression of that little bit in the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Thy will be done.”
Which means we get out of the way & let it flow…and I love the job Sarah McLachlan does with her musical version of it, below.
Let it wash over you….
Prayer of Saint 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; and where there is sadness, joy.
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.
I’m a fan of Thay’s, of Steven Goodheart, who shared this poem of Thay’s in a posting, and of showing we believe in peace by showing it – here’s more from Steven:
In light of the terrible violence all around the world, in the Middle East, the Ukraine, and so many places, I thought I would share this poem. It’s called “Recommendation” and was written by my heart teacher Thich Nhat Hanh in 1965 during the Vietnam War, which was ripping his country apart and would only go deeper into violence in the decade ahead.
With his life and teachings, Thay has proved again and again that non-violence does *not* mean non-action, or “idiot compassion,” and that by rejecting violence we *can* skilfully and compassionately deal with even the most difficult issue of life, individually and collectively.
RECOMMENDATION by Thich Nhat Hanh
Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:
Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is compassion –
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.
One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.
And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.
Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.
Guess this is a special one – learned the prayer during my first year teaching, at a Roman Catholic high school in New Orleans, and it’s been part of my daily practice ever since. That makes it even more cool that Sarah makes the beautiful words & beautiful spirit sound so beautiful.
Thanks, Sarah, for giving.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy 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.
Let me get this straight (this is me, talking to me):
You don’t have to understand things to feel OK about life?
What? I don’t understand.
It’s kinda like this. Stay with me on this one.
Just yesterday, I was talking with a friend who had 56 different problems that she and I were trying to sort out. With some of the more interesting ones, we would analyze the variables that we felt might make things work, and other variables that we were pretty sure were screwing things up.
As we went along, I found myself saying, “ I just don’t understand why he would do that.” Or another time, “They do that all the time, I don’t understand.” Or most dramatically, “He doesn’t hurt anybody by doing that but himself. I just don’t understand.”
My friend looked at me, and asked, “Hmmm. New idea. What if we will get to the bottom of this & make our action plan without understanding why they do what they do.”
Bamm! Big shift! Changed everything! And…we got our plan finished in less than a half hour. We don’t understand, but we were able to carry on, anyway.
Upon reflecting on that idea, I thought of all the major things I’ve done in my life without understanding how those things work, where those things are going, and and sometimes, where they even come from.
I have jumped into things with no idea how things were going to turn out.
Peace….now.
Actually, I do a lot of things with out fully understanding everything about what I’m getting into.
The last 17 times I fell in love, I don’t remember stopping the process by saying, “I just don’t understand why she likes me.”
The last three jobs I moved into, I don’t remember stopping the process by saying, “I don’t know why I like this, so I won’t take the job.”
The last three people that I have met at the coffeehouse (where I meet most of the people in my life)… I don’t remember thinking, “I don’t understand them. I just won’t talk to them.”
It finally hit me what it means. This is it: At the end of the Anglican Communion service, the priest dismisses the congregation with a prayer of peace, which I’ve heard since I was a small kid. The prayer goes something like this: “The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the love and service of our Lord Jesus Christ….”
Similarly, Paul’s letter to the Phillipians reports he says, “Be careful for nothing: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
I love that idea – that the peace of God is there, even if we don’t understand it.
In spite of the fact we don’t understand it. Built on the notion we don’t understand it. Accessible, maybe even more accessible, if we don’t understand it.
So just let it in.
And carry on. Understanding will come, when it’s time. We might have to wait for it. But we don’t have to wait for peace.
The police removed their gear & disappeared, rather than attack the protesters….
Yesterday in Thailand, riot police yield to peaceful protesters by removing barricades AND their helmets in a shocking gesture of solidarity.
From the CBC report: “In a sharp reversal in strategy that followed two days of increasingly fierce street fighting, riot police lowered their shields and walked away from heavily fortified positions around Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s office at Government House.”
Coming together on a sea of change…looking over the ocean from the westside of San Juan Island, Washington State, across from Victoria, British Columbia….photo by Ian Byington
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
~ Lao Tse ~
Thought for the day…
"I felt a rush of trust–felt that life might be not just tolerable but beautiful, if I could only remember to find the bare Present.
" -- David James Duncan, River Teeth
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.