top of page

The Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

​

 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offence, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.


O Lord, 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 one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in forgiving that one is forgiven, it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen.

Moving Forward Meditations

Search

Moving Forward - 3 February 2025

    MONDAY, February 3      Anskar


    Mark 7:28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”


    Apparently, Beloved Community isn’t immune to conflict. Here, the disagreement offers an opportunity for real and deep conversation that then becomes conversion. That’s what I believe is happening when this woman refuses to be dismissed and when Jesus, in his full humanity and divinity, takes the time to listen to this woman.


    When I’m really leaning on the Holy Spirit to help me enter into deep and compassionate listening, especially with those with whom I disagree, or worse yet, don’t like, I can feel some movement toward common ground, some growth in my recognition of their full human dignity. We may not convert one another to differing views, but real listening almost always gets us closer to God and closer to one another. And that’s the whole point of this Christian life, isn’t it? Loving God and loving neighbor, even when it’s hard or ugly or dangerous? With the Holy Spirit’s help, no matter the differences, we can listen, we can talk, and maybe we can even open the door to change.


    MOVING FORWARD: What might happen if you really listened to others, especially those you dislike?



    (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

     
     
     

    Moving Forward - 2 February 2025


      Luke 2:29-31 Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.


      Simeon, in his lifelong search for consolation for his occupied nation and his oppressed people, finds it in the sight of the fully God, fully human infant Jesus. When it seems like all we feel is the trauma and all we experience is trouble, we can look to Simeon as a reminder to see and trust in the God we know as Emmanuel, the Divine with us and in us. And sometimes, in looking with Simeon at the infant Jesus, I, too, can find peace in the paradoxical union of vulnerability and almighty power that is God in the flesh, experiencing everything from the cradle to the cross.


      When I watch the news or hear of a friend’s new cancer diagnosis, the Christ in me offers me the courage to love in a world that says it’s too risky and to rest in a society that regards overworking to be a virtue. Jesus modeled and offers a power and peace that is felt alongside pain and fear, in the knowledge that neither is stronger than Divine Love. 


      MOVING FORWARD: How does seeing Jesus as both fully God and fully human shape your prayer life?



      (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

       
       
       

      Moving Forward - 1 February 2025

        SATURDAY, February 1, Brigid of Kildare


        Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; all of you are one in Christ Jesus.


        It’s hard to deal with the discomfort of difference, because we are loving people who don’t want to do or say the wrong thing. We don’t want to hurt or offend. That’s exactly why we describe the openness and generosity of spirit of our children by saying things like, “They don’t see the difference. They just see people.”


        But the wonderful thing is that children do see difference. They see all of it, and they are honest about it; these beautiful and God-given differences are the vast array of us making up the image of God. And in the purity of their loving like God, most children would never consider using those differences to make comparative determinations of a person’s innate worth. Children see human beings as equal, not as the same.


        That is the beautiful regard I hear in this verse. It’s the beautiful regard of God’s love. It’s the beautiful regard that we are called to have for one another with the help of the Holy Spirit.


        MOVING FORWARD: How can we have eyes like children and see all human beings as equal?



        (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

         
         
         
        bottom of page