Peace Prayer: Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

- June 30, 2023

Peace Prayer: Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

(June 30, 2023)

The spate of violence both in the local and the international scene have been the subject in news media, including discussions on social media. One wonders what is going on in the world now. What has become of the human race who is by nature and purpose is peace. The three major religions preach PEACE, SHALOM, SALAM. Buddhism and Hinduism are well-known for their adherence to peace and non-violence. Taoism’s Yin-Yang believes in the importance of harmony and complementarity in man and in nature. There are also other traditions, cultures and way of life that are not popular but nonetheless exist which promote peace in various expressions and forms. Yet despite all of these mentioned, peace has remained very elusive.

The recent attack to a Muslim lawmaker in Connecticut is loaded with hate towards religion (Islam in particular) and women. Although the incident is still under investigation, one could not help but relate it with other similar incidents that happened in the past against women and Muslims. There are other forms of hate crime incidents, too, like anti-Asian, anti-Gay, anti-Blacks, anti-Semitism and others.

This seeming anti-Muslim incident in Connecticut caught my attention and brought back to my memory my favorite saint, SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, who at some point, had a meeting with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil of Damietta, Egypt during the Fifth Crusade. Apparently, the “two discussed interfaith conflict, war and the search for peace.” In 1219, St. Francis crossed Crusade lines to meet Egypt's sultan. What can we learn from their encounter? | America Magazine

It is through this historical encounter that St. Francis of Assisi has become a popular patron in the Christendom for peace dialogues. And it was to him that the famous poem “Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace” was attributed such that it became popularly known as the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. The original text was in French. St. Francis was Italian. Just the same, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace captures the spirit of that encounter of St. Francis and the Sultan, that is, peace is attained not just by mere words or discussions about it. The essence of peace is manifested in the various ways by which we show our deepest concern and care towards our fellow human beings. The attainment of peace begins in each one of us in a very concrete form:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.