Prayer of St. Francis

This Sunday was probably the thirtieth time I heard this prayer. But, for some reason, I heard it differently. Perhaps it was because it was in song, written by Allen Pote. I'm not sure.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, Thy pardon, Lord.
Where there is doubt, let there be faith. 

Where there's despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let there be light,
Where there is sadness, let there be joy.  

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, and it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life, to eternal life. 

I realized that this prayer is essentially the goal of my life... It's what I hope to achieve, not just when I graduate college and can do things with my education, but every second of my life.

It is individual. It is personal. It is reactionary. The first clauses are the emotions or situations one encounters, the second clauses are what I hope to do. I want to bring people faith, hope, provide light when there is darkness.

St. Francis was apparently really great with birds. He's almost always pictured with animals, but especially birds. Loved 'em. Another thing we have in common, says the girl that follows birds around.

I've spent much of my life being consoled, worrying about whether or not people understood me. I still struggle with this more than I would like to. But I would rather console and understand and love others. This is so much greater than any comfort I would want for myself. To bring what I naturally want most of all to other people, because it is definitely what others want as well.

Michael Bruner told me something along these lines, and I didn't connect that he had probably gotten the idea from the prayer often repeated at our church. He told me that it wasn't so important for me to be understood, because I was not going to be understood all the time. He said I couldn't worry about it. It seemed harsh at the time, and I don't believe that a person should not want to be understood (if everyone was misunderstood, communication would become quite pointless), but perhaps it is not the most important thing in the world. This is an idea that resonates with St. Francis's prayer, and with Christianity.

To quote Shakespeare, the prayer of St. Francis is an attitude devoutly to be wished.