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 doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. 

Divine God, 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. Amen.

I will always think of this as "Jim's Prayer." Jim Sullivan was an English teacher and Baseball Coach at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Sr High School where I taught years ago. Jim had it memorized, which always amazed me. Most of us are lucky if we get the Lord's Prayer memorized. He used it in meetings , devotions and chapels. He'd grown up in Catholic schools in New York where he learned it.

St.Francis and Jim were both examples of the values Francis has us ask from God. I would like to try to memorize this prayer because prayer transforms us and I want God to use this prayer to make me more able to live out this prayer.