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; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
- The prayer of St Francis of Assisi
A few months back I was reflecting on being a person of peace in a toxic workplace and suddenly this prayer popped into my head. As a child, we used to sing a version of this prayer in school assemblies (it was one of my favorite school hymns along with one about collecting vegetables at harvest). Suddenly having the words come back into my mind gave me a rock to focus on and since then I regularly find myself praying “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace,” throughout the day.
In situations where there are vicious cycles, it’s even more important not to perpetuate the downward spiral but be a person of grace, peace, and love.