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 rather to comfort than to be comforted;

to understand, than to be understood;

to love, than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen.

-St. Francis d’Asisi

During mass in secondary school, we would sing this prayer at mass. It’s one of those that become more meaningful the older you grow. For me it’s taken almost a decade to get a true understanding of this poem. I’m learning daily that it is in emptying ourselves that our hearts can be filled with all the equipment we need to go out and be God’s hands and ears and helpers to others.

It fascinates me no end to think that I am the answer to someone’s prayer.

“It is in self-forgetting that one finds.”