Prayer of Saint Francis

Prayer of Saint Francis

This prayer is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi.
It provides comfort and strength.

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.

The Spiritual Law of Life

You have made for us this law: that the effect of what comes to us from without should depend on what we are like within.
Thus no external misfortune will overcome us if we restrain the vices inside us.
No public disgrace will overwhelm us if we resist our own disgraceful desires.
No outward disturbance will daunt us if our intentions are pure.
No enemy can rob us of our peace if our hearts are fixed on you.
No one can do more harm to us than we do to ourselves;
and as soon as we master ourselves, everything else loses its power to hurt us.
For this spiritual law, we give you thanks.

Freedom

I ask for the grace to believe
in what I could be and do
if I only allowed God, my loving Creator,
to continue to create me, guide me and shape me.

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