The 18th Day of Lent

I am floundering here. The two-week computer hiatus has thrown me off my stride. I need a focus for this blog. I looked at the Serenity Prayer one year. This year, I could reflect on the  Prayer of St. Francis.

Apparently it is  not something St. Francis of Assisi himself wrote, but was found, without attribution, on the back of a prayer card with a picture of the saint, which is how it got the name. Apparently this, like the Serenity Prayer, is also used by AA (according to my google search), but I did not know this when I thought of using it. And that's not the context for my reflections.
Here is the whole 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 error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And 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.

I could do a line a day on this. It is one of my favorite prayers.

So let me start with "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace."

That is not as easy as it sounds. It sounds like a wonderful idea. Make me an instrument of your peace. Let me be a peacemaker. Peacemakers are mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Who wouldn't want to be called a child of God? (OK, I guess a lot of people wouldn't, but still, that is something to aspire to in my opinion)

But when you start talking about peace these days, you can get attacked for it. You are weak, you are stupid, you are wishy washy, you are stupid. But peace is a good thing. Peace is getting along, respecting others, trying to understand others and even if you cannot, at least allowing them to be who they are, short of allowing them to harm you in some direct way.

But this is related to praying to God and asking that "not my will, but yours" be done. That is a hard thing to pray and mean sincerely. We all have agendas, and we all have turf to protect, one  way or another. But truly, we do not have to be aggressive or hurt others to further our own interests. We can, as Catholics say, die to self and when we do that, we can sincerely ask God to become a channel or instrument of his peace on this Earth. And when that happens, when we are able to put aside our petty desires and fears, envy and pride, then we find happiness that is unlike anything we might  have expected to find.

May the peace of Christ be with you this day.