At our church, when a person is moving or transitioning to another location or vocation, we have a prayer of commissioning. We say the same prayer every time, yet each time it impacts me deeply as to the role that God has called me to in the places where He puts me.

It is called the “Peace Prayer of Saint Francis”. Though the prayer isn’t believed to be actually written by Saint Francis, the prayer in its present form was found in a small French spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell).

Take some time to pray the lines below, each time thinking through how God has called you to live as a messenger of peace and the gospel in the roles, areas and circumstances of your life.

Peace Prayer of Saint Francis

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.