Bring God into the World 

   “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” (Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi) 

   This, the first line in St. Francis’ famous prayer, tells us what we are to be.  Above all else we are to be an instrument of peace; not worldly peace but the peace of God.

   The task is simple, but also quite difficult at times.  Sin interferes with my ability to bring God’s peace to others.  Especially those who are difficult to even like, never-the-less love.  So how am I to channel the peace of God?

   Francis tells us as his prayer continues.  We are to love, not hate; to forgive those who injure us or do wrong to us; we must have faith in a world full of doubt and hope where there is despair.   We are to bring light to the darkness and joy to replace sadness.  All very good things, but again not always so easy.

   I’ve read quite a bit about the life of Francis, he’s one of my favorite saints for so many reasons.  His life was not an easy on.  He was faced with rejection nearly everywhere he turned.  Some thought him insane, and others just found him foolish.  And yet he continued to love and do those things that God asked of him.

   I see in our world today the need for another Saint Francis, one who isn’t afraid of what people say or think.  One who cares only for doing God’s will, to love all God has created, to be a channel of God’s love for all.

   If more would contemplate his prayer, trying to apply it to their life, I believe the world would be a better place. 

“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.” (Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)