Overcoming Hatred and inury

 OVERCOMING HATRED AND INJURY

Most people love the prayer of St. Francis.  It’s been put to music, made into wall hangings, and often prayed where people gather to seek God.    We’ve reflected on it before but there are some invitations to life that I think are worth our attention again today.

Here's the prayer.

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,

Not so much to be understood as to understand,

Not so much to be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

It is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

The problem is that these nice words are immensely difficult to put into practice.  If we are honest, how do we normally respond when we are shown hatred, are injured by someone else’s choices, or feel dragged down by someone living in despair and sadness? 

When things are not going well with another person, do we want to console that person more than we want to be consoled, to understand more than to be understood? The truth is, many of us want to escape or retaliate more than anything else.  The Bible has this challenge to help us live better today:

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 

1 John 4:20

Loving God, We are called to love others but it’ not easy.  We’re so glad that You don’t leave us to try to do this on our own. 

If we are going to overcome injury and hatred we know that we can only do so as we live in Your enduring and unfailing love. 

So today we pray to receive that love and for willingness to pass it on to others in need.  We pray for those who irritate us, those who have harmed us, those who just seem to wallow in darkness.  We pray that the amazing power of Your love will speak and act, even through us, no matter who or what we face today.   E remember that:

We love each other because he loved us first. 

1 John 4:19

And so as we pray the prayer of St. Francis from our hearts, we ask that You help us to just be simple, to be focused on Your love for us, and to put the words into practice in all our thoughts, words, and deeds.  Amen

So, as you and I seek to be instruments of peace today, I know we will experience the approval and pleasure of our Heavenly Father because that’s truly His heart for all of us.