January 24

by David Lins  |  01/24/2021  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Catholics occasionally get grief for praying prayers that aren’t spontaneous. There is the Our Father—a prayer that Jesus said was the best way to pray. There is the Hail Mary that is taken from Scripture. Finally, the St. Michael Prayer, which is a direct stance against the instigator of the worst insurrection in eternity. (You know—the one in Heaven.)

A prayer written 800 years ago has recently risen to the top of my thoughts. It was written while the Catholic Church was in a season of struggle and suffering. It was written by a man born under the name Giovanni who was doing his best to live Catholicism as it was meant to be lived despite the climate of the day. It was written by St. Francis of Assisi.

Would you take a moment and pray it with me?

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 seek not so much 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;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Can you even imagine what would happen to our parish, our state, and our nation, if every Catholic prayed this prayer? And then lived it?

Maybe we should pray one more line...

And let it begin with me.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org.

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