Make Me An Instrument of Peace

People get very depressed when the world erupts in violence and hatred. Even if you don't really pay attention to the news, the feeling in the air is depressing.

I wanted to offer some words of wisdom and felt at a loss. So I turned to something that has helped me immensely in my own transitions - the St. Francis of Assisi Prayer.

This prayer echoes something I believe deep within my heart - that change and peace BEGINS WITH ME. I cannot control the events in the world thousands of miles away. I can't even control the events in my office, my community, my neighborhood. But I do have control over my own attitude, my own words, my own actions.
This prayer speaks to that and I offer it to all:

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace
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.
- St. Francis of Assisi