Adventures in Prayer #2: The Peace Prayer

Most of us have at one time or another heard of the “Peace Prayer.” It has commonly been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but he almost certainly did not write it. According to The Franciscan Archive:

The first appearance of the Peace Prayer occurred in France in 1912 in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell). It was published in Paris by a Catholic association known as La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The Holy Mass League), founded in 1901 by a French priest, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855-1923). The prayer bore the title of 'Belle prière à faire pendant la messe' (A Beautiful Prayer to Say During the Mass), and was published anonymously. The author could possibly have been Father Bouquerel himself, but the identity of the author remains a mystery.

Around 1920 the prayer was published on the back of a holy card bearing the image of St. Francis of Assisi with no attribution to the saint. Nevertheless, the prayer came to be credited to him.

I think it is fitting that the authorship of the Peace Prayer is uncertain. I prefer to think of it as a gift to us from God. Certainly, it was divinely inspired. To me, it is one of the most perfect expressions of Christianity ever written:

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;
and where there is sadness, joy.

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.

Although this prayer is a prayer for God’s grace, it is not a prayer for our own benefit but, almost uniquely, for everyone else's. If we are hated or injured, we must repay with love and forgiveness. Likewise, in the face of doubt and despair, even our own, we must learn to sow faith and hope. We must become beacons in the darkness. And, yes, we must even learn to sow the seeds of joy, for joy is also one of God’s wishes for us.

The profoundest words of this prayer yet follow, counseling us not to seek first for love and understanding, but instead to give those things to others for it is in giving that we receive. It is in the giving that those things will return to us. The payoff may not be in kind, it may not come in a form recognizable to us, but God will repay. If we learn to forgive, we can expect forgiveness from Him.

The last two lines are the essence of this prayer, and perhaps the essence of Christianity. They are profoundly mystical, for a literal death is not necessarily called for. Jesus did not call for all of us to be martyrs, but He did say “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matt. 10:39. He also said to his disciples: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matt. 16:24-25. The death Jesus calls for must first come in life just as His did before He offered up its ultimate expression for all of us.

If you don’t already know this prayer, learn it. Say it often, either silently or aloud. Live it, work it into the fabric of your soul. Become recollected in it, and the life you seek will be found.