Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 7:20 PM
This isn’t a prayer for Thanksgiving, or a poem about gratitude. But I was thinking about celebrations, about all the gatherings and festivities we will enjoy over the next five or six weeks, starting tomorrow. Some of these will be with people we love, people we get along with easily. But not always. And in the spirit of those gatherings, I offer this prayer, to keep our hearts focused on being Jesus to everyone we encounter. Let the celebrating begin!
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy 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;
and where there is sadness, joy.
-- St. Francis of Assisi
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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.
Pace e bene,
donna
You’re right on with this, Rachel (as usual). Thank you!
Thanks for the reminder. Having a difficult college age student home requires a LOT of prayers on my part and a high level of being the peacemaker. sigh. Discernment on which battles to fight is also helpful.
That prayer is one of my very favorites, and when it is sung as a hymn it almost always brings tears to my eyes. Now I’ll think of it as a helpful reminder of what we are ALL called to do. Often I find it hard to be “an instrument of Peace,” but if I make the prayer my a “mantra,” reminding me that I am an imperfect human being, and that I can and should practice being a bettert peacemaker, progress is inevitable 
Thanks so much for posting this!
This was such a helpful post for me. I was a mess last night, dreading the arrival of a relative who is always difficult for me to deal with. I am 37 weeks pregnant and feeling less able to be a gracious hostess—more sensitive to off-the-cuff comments, more achy, more easily tired out. To be honest, I tried to pray the prayer and thought, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever prayed.” But God appears to answer ridiculous prayers, because we had a very pleasant day today—I really enjoyed working with my husband to get ready for our guests, and the kids all got along. (I need to keep praying about tomorrow though!)
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