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Even before the pandemic, the world was a tumultuous place, and since, bad news and difficulties seem only to have escalated. Theologically, we live in a world that is at unrest, as both the news and Scripture tell us. Given recent news and world troubles, we thought it wise to reflect on a peace prayer attributed, likely wrongly, to St. Francis of Assisi. First published a little more than a century ago, and intoned in both World War I and II, Mother Theresa famously prayed it in accepting her Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. It has been widely translated and quoted; given the times, it’s worth remembering here and repeating in prayer.

The Editors

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.

O 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.

Amen.