During a time when there is so much uncertainty in our world I have had the opportunity to witness the anxiety that presents in my clients, as well as, experience my own grief for the loss of freedoms I have always known, compassion for those who have not known such freedoms and much gratitude for what I have and the people in my life .
During this time, it helps me to start each day with a version of the prayer of St. Francis Assisi, which brings an attitude of peace toward the world in starting of my day. In repeating the prayer three times, I can get centered and shift into a period meditation. During the day, when hearing about another violent outburst in our country it brings me back to God and helps me put the energy of peace and love out to the world.
I share it with you in hopes that you too might find some peace in reading it.
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace-that where there is hatred, I may bring love-that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness-that where there is discord, I may bring harmony-that where there is error, I may bring truth-that where there is doubt, I may bring faith-that where there is despair, I may bring hope-that where there are shadows, I may bring light-that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek to comfort than to be comforted-to understand than to be understood-to love than to be loved. For it is in self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal life. Amen.
