I am so glad the time of campaigning for elections is almost over. I am sick of hearing candidates bash each other. Often their commercials have nothing about what good the candidates can or will do. The whole commercial is “mud-slinging” the opponent. It’s disgusting.
If I could vote for a candidate that didn’t do that, I would probably vote for that person. That alone tells me the character of the candidate.
My friend, Bob Jones, who I have quoted many times before, said, “Peace is a bargain at any price.” I believe that to be true.
I think our society these days is anything but peaceful. We may have sporadic times of peace and harmony, but a look at the nightly news tells us we are better entertained when there is turmoil. We gape at the street fights of protestors and criminals. We are amazed at each news story of murder or violation, but the story is the same with just a different twist.
One of my favorite “characters” of the past is St. Francis of Assisi, who was born of a wealthy family in Italy in 1181. The story of his life is a very interesting one. When he was young, he spent his parents’ money lavishly on friends and parties. However, his spending was more out of generosity than selfishness.
Through a series of experiences that brought him to a relationship with Christ, he spent his life caring for the sick, helping the poor, and loving animals. He renounced a life of wealth to embrace radical poverty, and had a deep respect for both nature and animals.
St. Francis of Assisi is known as a man of peace, and is often depicted in drawings and figurines in a plain brown monk’s habit surrounded by birds and other animals. I have a statue of St. Francis in my back yard, among the plants in the planter. I can see “him” through our patio door. It gives me a good, peaceful, feeling to see him out there.
Although he did not actually write the poem known as “The Prayer of St. Francis,” it is a prayer of inspiration for any to focus on a peaceful nature rather than one of bitterness.
Each time I pray, I ask for God’s guidance in whatever I say and do, and I ask him to make me an instrument of his love and peace. I know I have to pray continually this prayer, as we are so influenced by negativity.
For those of you who do not know the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, here it is:
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.
Amen.
May we all wish to be instruments of love and peace.
— My love to all,
Nancy
• • •
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
— Matthew 5:9