St. Francis

Our pastor started a series of sermons on St. Francis. I never thought I would hear a sermon series in a Protestant church based on a Roman Catholic! That is true progress, believers are believers no matter the church title. We will be examining the ideas found in the prayer of St. Francis even though St. Francis didn't write the prayer (written in 1912??) the writing is based on his ideas. The prayer is as follows:

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.

I urge you to take time to read over these words and contemplate their meaning in your life.