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The Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

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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

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Moving Forward - 2 March 2025

    SUNDAY, March 2, Last Epiphany


    Luke 9:28-29 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.


    It was October of 2014, and I was standing on top of Sugarloaf Mountain right outside of Marquette, Michigan. It was my first time in the Upper Peninsula, and it was peak fall color. I was paralyzed by beauty.


    Before me stretched the inestimable vastness of Lake Superior; behind me was the wilderness of the U.P. I was caught somewhere between heaven and earth. I called my girlfriend; I did not want to come down. 


    Jesus calls us up the mountain to free us from our agendas and mendacity. He is transfigured before us for our benefit, not his own. Jesus longs for us to be transformed more and more into his likeness. To do so, we must come up a little higher. In climbing the heights of the mystery of God, we may find ourselves astounded by a mountaintop experience and may even long to stay there with the other disciples.


    MOVING FORWARD: Reflect on a time you were captivated by the world around you.



    (Source: Forward Day By Day Movement)

     
     
     

    Moving Forward - 1 March 2025

      SATURDAY, March 1, DAVID OF WALES, Bishop, c. 544


      2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.


      Patience may be the virtue we’ve forgotten most. Now that Amazon has drones that can fly our orders to us, we want what we want, and we want it right now! I’m seeing this embodied in my four-year-old, who often tells me that if we don’t do something or get something now, we just won’t ever.


      I take great inspiration from the English, who have developed a queuing culture. To get anywhere in London usually requires a wait. Faith requires a wait, too; for us to see tomorrow what was promised yesterday, we must inhabit the now, however unsatisfying. The wait is temporary, but the reward is eternal. We can want what we want while sanctifying the wait.


      MOVING FORWARD: Take the long way home today.



      (Source: Forward Day By Day Movement)

       
       
       

      Moving Forward - 28 February 2025

        FRIDAY, February 28, Anna Julia Haywood Cooper


        Ruth 3:14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before one person could recognize another; for he said, “It must not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”


        After weeks of Ruth going out and bringing home food, her former mother-in-law, Naomi, takes charge. She tells Ruth how to prepare to meet Boaz, where to go, and what to do. And it’s a risk, both to Ruth’s physical well-being and to her reputation, but it’s a risk they take to survive. And it pays off. Ruth gains a husband, securing provision for herself and Naomi.


        Likewise, Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, the saint for today, took risks. Born into slavery, she attended an Episcopal school for freed African Americans. Cooper risked by pushing the leadership for the right to take higher-level classes offered only to men. This risk paid off: she became the fourth African American woman in the United States to receive a doctorate. 

        I am not always brave enough to risk danger to reach a dream God gives, but these stories remind me God has walked others along this road, and God will go with me too.


        MOVING FORWARD: What will you risk for a dream God has given you?



        (Source: Forward Day By Day Movement)

         
         
         
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