Christmas is a joyous season for Christians. We believe in the incredible miracle of God incarnated in the human form of Jesus. And with the presence of Christ, the Anointed One, comes a promise of hope, peace, and light.
The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi gives us an outline how this gift of peace may be maintained. It is a selfless list of actions that places the other’s needs before our own. We ask the Lord to make us an instrument of peace, which means that we are accepting the work and responsibility involved.
Peace in our hearts, homes, families, work, and the world at large can only occur if we all do our part to promote it. Whatever your beliefs, I ask my Lord and Savior for your peace as well as my own.
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.
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.
©Mary K. Doyle