Instrument of Peace

While I'm Lutheran, I've always loved this prayer from a Catholic Saint. At L.A.Lutheran High School one of our English teachers was a New York Irishman, he was a former Catholic and it always amazed me how he had this whole thing memorized. Even though he had it memorized, he always prayed it with great sincerity and passion:

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, harmony.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh 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."

~Saint Francis of Assisi b. 1182 -- d. 1226 A. D.