RESPONSE TO A PRAYER

 

Carolyn Rosenthal

 

A Simple Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light!

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.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Here follows a line for line response to the words of my brother, Francesco Bernardone, d.1226 in his 45th year:

Soul of the Universe, Soul of my soul,
Help me to feel and know my anger and help me be loving;
When I feel injured let me acknowledge it, declare it and move on.
Let me understand the discord, and try for union.
Help me weigh my doubts and be faithful.
Let me ride my despair into hope.
Help me to know the nature of darkness as balance to light.

Soul of the Universe, Soul of my soul,
Help me to console as well as to be consoled;
To understand as well as to acknowledge I would like to be understood;
That I want to be loved as well as to love.
It is in giving that we receive;
It is in letting be that we can better Be;
And it is in dying every day to the discovered, and accepted, (and therefore somehow-changed) past,
That we can be reborn every day,
Into the Eternal Now.

These words are sent to you, my brother, with the wish that your sister is not only saying what she knows, but can live into knowing what she says.

 

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CAROLYN ROSENTHAL. who lives in Washington, D.C., keeps the circulation records for Inward Light. She is a great lover of music, especially opera.