Be an instrument

This morning, I read again the prayer by the 12th century saint, St. Francis of Assisi: Lord Make me an Instrument of your peace.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

when 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.

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 [to ourselves] that we are born to eternal life

As I read through the lines of this poem, I could see that so many of these phrases referred to my interior relationship with myself.

Where there is hatred inside of myself for myself, could I bring in love;

where there is doubt in me could I invite faith;

where there is darkness in me would I bring in the light;

where there is sadness in me would I welcome joy;

and from this intrinsic transformation could I respond more fully to others?

All questions, all discoveries waiting for me. There is no separation between the interior and the exterior life.

Check out this prayer in music.