This warrants another posting. I’ve posted it before, but I absolutely love this prayer. We pray it every week at St. Agnes during Mass. I am still thinking of getting a tattoo and if I did, it would probably say “to be loved as to love” in tiny cursive letters on my wrist.
I drove out of the church parking lot this evening, listened to NPR, and it featured a segment on charity and donating. Believe me, I know these are tough times, but I know so many people out there who don’t believe in giving, don’t believe in charity. In fact, I just recently started donating consistently–automatic charge to my credit card. I never thought I was financially stable enough before. But I think of all the resources that were given to me: financial aid, scholarships, free meals. All those months when I had either quit my job or was laid off…I never got COBRA. It was too expensive. So I went without health care and I remember going to San Francisco’s medical clinic when I was sick. FREE. They asked how much I made and when I told them I didn’t have a job, I saw a doctor (not a med student, not a nurse) for free. No obligations. No pay later. I saw a doctor and got medication that helped me get better…no charge.
Prayer of St. Francis
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 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.
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