Peace

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid                                                                           John 14:27

Just a short word today about peace. In a world where peace is ever more elusive, we need to be intentional about finding it for ourselves. We cannot be at peace with others if we do not have an inner peace- a peace that the Disciple John wrote was “not as the world gives.”

I remembered the other day the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

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;
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,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen