Too often, my prayers are selfish. I pray to feel closer to God. I pray for personal transformation. About a month ago, I memorized this well-known prayer of St. Francis. Now, I try to pray it at least once a day. As I pray these well-worn words, whispered by the lips of so many others, I try to think of the real places of hatred, darkness and doubt, and ways that I, today, can be an instrument of God's love, light, and hope. These words call me to be something better than I am. Instead, of a prayer for personal transformation, it is a prayer that prays for the courage to transform the world. Each time I speak or write or think these words, no matter how I've fallen short, I am humbled and inspired.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,
in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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