Blessed Are the Peacemakers

You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God.

You are blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You are blessed when you are content with just who you are -- no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You are blessed when you have worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

You are blessed when you care. At that moment you will find yourself cared for.

You are blessed when you get the inside your world -- your mind and heart -- put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are and your place in the world.


(Adapted from "The Message" by Eugene Peterson)
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.  
Where there is hatred, let us 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; 
where there is sadness, joy.  
Grant that we 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. 

The original publication of the prayer was submitted anonymously to the French publication La Clochette in 1912.
Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l'amour.
Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.
Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler,
à être compris qu'à comprendre,à être aimé qu'à aimer,
car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit,
c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné,
c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie.