Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace

Saint Meinrad Archabbey at sunset

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I was supposed to be traveling today to Saint Meinrad Archabbey for a yearly 4-day Silent Retreat. 

It's one of my favorite places.  I am always excited about facilitating this deep dive into the gift of Silence.  Words don't do it justice.

BUT the pandemic threw a wrench in my (& everyone's) plans.  So, I decided that even though I won't be facilitating a retreat, I can share with you the theme that I picked out for it last year and we can enter into it wherever we find ourselves. 

​We can still pray: ​

"Make me an instrument of your peace."

​If there's ever been a time to pray this prayer that was written in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, 700 years after his death by Father Esther Bouquerel of France in 1912, it is now!
 
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
And 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
And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen.

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"Blessed are the peacemakers," said Jesus, "for they will be called children of God."   

To be a peacemaker does not mean:

• We are peacekeepers.  (Consider the difference).
• We simply enjoy peace.      
• We don't have strong opinions.    
• We don't speak up or speak out.

To be a peacemaker means we not only pray and enjoy peace, but we actively work for peace.  For everyone.  Not just ourselves.  However, receiving inner peace enables us to extend outer peace...hence, the silent retreats. 

Silence offers an opportunity to slow down, to quiet the outer voices that we may look within and discover the inner voice of the God of Peace.   

Will you join me in reflecting, meditating, walking, dancing, stretching, playing, singing, resting, and working with this prayer over the next 4 days? 

Praying it first for yourself and your internal world: 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace toward myself...

Then praying it for those outside of yourself.  Praying it on behalf of not only your family and nation, but the whole world.
 
Praying to embody the words as you come in contact with the world--from those in your own house to the grocery store and social media.

Let's breathe in and out the words of the "Prayer of St. Francis" and in so doing, may we become instruments and children of the God of Peace.