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The inkling for this Magpie post has been rolling around the cavern of my skull for years but, as today is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, it occurs to me to type it up.
Aside from Grotto once yearly, it’s been more than two decades since I’ve truly filled any chaplaincy role in Freemasonry—I was working my way East in the local Rose Croix chapter, and I must say I was good at it—but my thinking here concerns adapting what is known as the Prayer of St. Francis for Masonic use.
One English translation of the original:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
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.
It really fits. So, if you happen to be a chaplain or grand chaplain somewhere, maybe this idea could work for you in certain circumstances. Customize as needed.
N.B. There is nothing historical that actually connects the prayer to St. Francis. The Franciscan Order does not include it among the prayers attributed to its founder, for example.
