In these turbulent times… Make me an Instrument of Your Peace.
For the past couple months, I have used the prayer attributed to St. Francis as a focus of my morning Centering Prayer practice. I plan to continue this practice through Lent. What I’ve long appreciated about repetitive prayer practices is how, over time, the prayer seems to open up and welcome me in. I glimpse new facets, even new avenues of the prayer, and gain new insights. This has been true in saying the Rosary, doing Lectio Divina, and now with this prayer. Let me share what I’ve discovered, and how it has affected me.
The prayer maybe familiar to you. If not, I’m happy to share it here as it is a gem!
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.
Awesome! I love it! And, if we could all do that—all the people of the earth, each in their own unique and yet universal way—what a wonderful world it would be!
Here’s how the prayer opened itself to me—and it seems likely that if you were to pray this or another prayer on a regular basis, that it would open itself to you, too. In praying this prayer over the years, I’ve always adopted a “doing” orientation and a “looking outward” orientation. To be God’s instrument of peace, the litany of actions named are obviously things to do in the world: Find hatred and sow love; reveal discord and facilitate reconciliation; discover doubt and bring faith; uncover despair and instill hope; bring light to dark thoughts and places; birth joy amid sadness.
As I prayed however, I discovered that these things resided within me and needed healing—actually… they needed healing within me before I ventured out to heal anyone else. I revised the prayer to orient the work of finding, revealing, discovering, uncovering and then bringing light and joy to my own soul. I still love the Prayer of St. Francis and pray it, but I also pray—and I invite you to pray:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred within me, let me sow love.
Where I have sustained injury, help me to forgive myself and others;
Where there is doubt, led me to learn faith.
When I despair, teach me to hope.
Where I have darkness, help me shine your bright light there.
Where I have sadness, help me to uncover your 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.
These actions are joint actions, done with God’s help! The prayer has caused me to examine my own thoughts, words and deeds. I’ve found that this prayer practice (which really does not take a large slice out of my day!) causes me to press the pause button at times during the day. For example, when I am being affronted by an irritable person, I press the pause button and consider what they must be going through to appear so irritable. Having re-oriented myself from “victim of their irritability” to “Instrument of Peace”, I can inquire about what’s going on in their world. This little “pause and pivot” makes a big difference to both my own and the other person’s day. They feel listened to and supported. This self-work done with my version of the prayer actually brings me to a place where I can do the work St. Francis is asking.
These turbulent times—a phrase that is only over-used because it so aptly describes this season of our lives—calls for God’s Instruments of Peace to stop and reflect, to ask for personal healing, and to step into the world that so needs these Instruments now, so desperately!
—The Rev. Canon Tony Moon, PhD
St. Augustine’s, Oklahoma City