Francis ~ a saint and a prayer for our times

Dylan, Bill and I in front of the Basilica of St. Francis, Nov 2019

I had the great joy of traveling to Italy last November with my husband Bill and our son Dylan, and one of the highlights of our trip was visiting Assisi, the hometown of St. Francis - one of the Catholic Church’s most well-known and beloved saints.

Prior to our trip I didn’t have a particular devotion to St. Francis. I knew the basics about his life and had seen the charming statues bearing his image, but encountering such holiness first-hand left a deep and lasting impression on me. I suddenly wanted to learn more about this man whose life was characterized by radical poverty, unparalleled humility and total gift of self.

Following our trip, I began inviting St. Francis into my daily prayers, asking him to apprentice me to his way of “Pace y Bene” (peace and goodness). I also began reflecting on the Prayer of St. Francis, which calls us to be instruments of God’s peace.

The Prayer of St. Francis is a timely one for our turbulent times marked by anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, economic despair and civil unrest. The witness of St. Francis’s life and the prayer that bears his name (which was not actually penned by him) invite us to be channels through which God’s peace, goodness and love can flow to everyone we encounter.

As the world races to secure a vaccine that will put an end to the pandemic, I pray that we, as Christ’s ambassadors here on earth, may deliver a much-needed antidote to help heal hurting souls: God’s abiding peace, his unending goodness and his infinite love.

Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, 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, 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.