Prayer of St Francis
This prayer for peace first appeared in French in 1912, in a small Catholic magazine called La Clochette. It is not by St Francis of Assisi himself, but it so well reflects his spirit that it has carried his name ever since. It is prayed by Christians of many traditions. This English version is translated from the 1912 French text.
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love; where there is offence, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is error, truth; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, thy light; where there is sadness, joy.
O Master, let me 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 forgetting self that we find, in pardoning that we are pardoned, and in dying that we rise to eternal life. Amen.