A CLASSIC PRAYER - St Francis Prayer

The St Francis of Assisi Prayer

Lord, make me a channel for thy peace –

that where there is hatred, I may bring love –

that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness –

that where there is discord, I may bring harmony –

that where there is error, I may bring truth –

that where there is doubt, I may bring faith –

that where there is despair, I may bring hope –

that where there are shadows, I may bring light –

that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather –

to comfort than to be comforted –

to understand, than to be understood –

to love, than to be loved 

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. 

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. 

It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. 

Amen.  

No matter where I am in my spiritual growth, the St. Francis prayer helps me improve my conscious contact with the God of my understanding.  I think that one of the great advantages of my faith in God is that I do not understand Him, or Her, or It.  It may be that my relationship with my Higher Power is so fruitful that I do not have to understand.  All that I am certain of is that if I work the Eleventh Step regularly, as best I can, I will continue to improve my conscious contact, I will know His will for me, and I will have the power to carry it out.   

Twelve Steps And Twelve Traditions, p. 99