The Prayer of Saint Francis (Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace)

English translation of the earliest known French version (1912):

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.

Above is the complete original text of the Prayer of Saint Francis. It is a line-by-line English translation of the earliest known French publication of the prayer in 1912.

No one really knows who wrote the prayer. It may or may not have actually been Saint Francis. It doesn’t matter who the real author was.

Spirit has talked about Saint Francis and his prayer before. But today we’d like to review it again. It seems particularly timely now with all the turmoil and chaos engulfing our world.

Spirit

We agree with Johnny—it doesn’t matter who wrote the Prayer of Saint Francis. What matters is the message it carries.

This is a message your troubled world could greatly benefit from if the words were deeply felt and lived among all humans.

Here we’d like to share with you some of our thoughts:

• You will never make peace with weapons of war.
• If you carry any hatred, anger, resentment, or bitterness in your heart, you are making war, not peace.
• True peace begins within your heart and the hearts of all your sisters and brothers.
• Let all your words, spoken or unspoken, be filled with peace.
• When you meet others face-to-face look them in the eye and send them thoughts of peace and love.
• Carry only love and peace in your heart, and you will increase their flow throughout the planet. You, standing alone, are that powerful.
• Be peaceful. Be peace.

…..

Here’s an audiovisual version of the Saint Francis prayer, sung by Sarah McLachlan.

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