October 28, 2011
It is the end of October and I am tackling my first “I was thinking…”. I was unsure of what I should think about? A current educational topic like transformation? Events at school? Topics for my own professional learning? Instead of addressing these I have decided to share one of my favorites prayers, the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
LORDMake me an instrument of your peaceWhere 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.
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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.
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I have always enjoyed this prayer. Possibly because it gives us an example of what we do, but more importantly it gives us a vision of what we should do.
We should love, not hate and pardon, not injure. St. Francis provides us a vision. A world where we can pardon, be pardoned and be “born to eternal life.” Our own personal life, school community, parish community and our larger society would be a better place if we could only practice and live the vision of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis.
Greg Kostiuk 