PRAYERS
TO LEARN BY HEART
Excerpted
with permission from The St. Francis Prayer Book, pp. 131-133
by Jon Sweeney
ST. FRANCIS VERY OFTEN PRAYED BY HEART, which means that the words of prayers like those that follow reverberated inside of him. He memorized them, or he simply remembered them as a result of repetition, so that their words could be easily on his lips, and so that in mystical ways, they would pray themselves for him, inside of him, like our heart, which also beats involuntarily.
We can do the same. Here are some basic prayers for learning by heart. Each dates from the early centuries of the Christian Church and is today found in various forms throughout the world.
COLLECT
FOR PURITY
Almighty
God,
to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts
of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify
your holy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE DOXOLOGY
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
•••
LORD,
MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF YOUR PEACE
This prayer, surely the most recognized prayer
attributed to St. Francis, was not actually written
by him or dictated by him to his brothers. Its author
is in fact anonymous and the prayer is only about a
century old. However, its lasting influence is due
to how closely it reflects the true spirit of the Poverello.
Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow peace;
where there is injury let me sow forgiveness;
where there is doubt let me sow faith;
where there is despair let me give hope;
where there is darkness let me give light;
where there is sadness let me give
joy.
0 Lord, grant that I may not try to be comforted, but to comfort,
not try to be understood but to understand,
not try to be loved but to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive,
it is in forgiving that we are forgiven,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
•••
Excerpted from The St. Francis Prayer Book by Jon M. Sweeney. Copyright ©2004 Jon M. Sweeney. Used by permission of Paraclete Press.
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