Wage Peace!

The Light Shines in the Darkness

Hymn of the Day

"Prayer"

Saint Francis of Assisi
(Based on Romans 6:5-14)

"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." (NKJ)

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me so 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, 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 ~

When he was about twenty years old, Francis got into a fight with neighboring Perugia and was imprisoned for almost a year. A couple of illnesses during his confinement and shortly thereafter caused him to question the value of his way of life. One night after a sumptuous banquet he had prepared for some of his friends, the boys rushed out in the street for merry-making and revelry. They soon realized that Francis was missing from their midst. They finally located him staring at the ground in rather profound contemplation.


When asked by his friends what was "wrong", Francis replied, "I am thinking of taking a wife more beautiful, more rich, more pure than you have ever imagined." That was his way of telling his friends that he was renouncing wealth, position and worldly fame to wed "Lady Poverty".


Sometime later while praying in the ruined hermitage of St. Damian just outside Assisi, he felt something wonderful take place. Jesus spoke to him from the Crucifix, accepted him – his heart and his life. From that day forth Jesus became the very soul of his soul.


His father was angry at the change in Francis, and publicly disinherited him. Francis handed over to his father all the money he had on him, together with all of his clothes, saying, "From henceforth I desire to say nothing else than, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name . . .’ ".


Francis left town immediately and went wandering on the slopes of neighboring Mt. Subasio singing his new-found joy to the hills and visiting the lepers there to serve them. He set such an example for others that he gained quite a following over a period of time. When the number of his followers reached exactly twelve, he went with them to Rome to secure from Pope Innocent III permission to "live a life of absolute conformity to the precepts of the gospel." It took a dream to convince the Pope, but he finally blessed and established the movement in the year 1210.


Francis and his band began their preaching tours. Their love for the humble, their message of repentance and hope, took hold of the consciences of men and opened new vistas in their dull lives. In his hometown of Assisi it is said "the entire population was thrilled, conquered, desiring in the future to live only in accordance with Francis’ counsels." His open-air sermons at street corners and public squares and in fields had the same effect. His gospel was practical: men must prove their conversion by giving up their ill-gotten gains, renouncing their enmities and being reconciled with their adversaries.


Francis took the life of Jesus as his ideal and the teachings of the Gospel as his creed. Love was his driving force. It led him from the complexes of the churches of his day to one simple loyalty – to Jesus. He moved away from the world of dogma where he felt his intellect regimented and his will chained, to the world of the heart where love blossoms and where man finds in his fellow men his opportunity for companionship and service.


In such a personality as Francis had there inevitably arises also a love of nature, for the heart that goes out in love to God’s highest creatures cannot fail to embrace as well His humbler ones, even an inanimate wind and sky, trees and fields, beach and ocean. There are many stories that chronicle this type of beautiful "oneness" all things. Some of the stories about Francis tell how he pleaded with the people of Gubbio to feed the wolf who had ravaged their flocks because, as Francis put it, "through hunger has Brother Wolf done this wrong."


Next to love in Francis’ mind and heart came joy! He called himself and his disciples "God’s jugglers" whose function it was to make people laugh. "Is it not in fact true," Francis would say, "that the servants of God are really like jugglers, intended to revive the hearts of men and lead them into spiritual joy?"

Francis was canonized a Saint only two years after his death – extraordinary speed – and the great Church that stands over his tomb as his memorial was begun that selfsame day. Unfortunately, the church was ravaged by a recent earthquake and several strong aftershocks about a year ago, and it is in danger of falling despite efforts of cultural and religious organizations to restore it.


The lovely Prayer of St. Francis, which is not actually a "Christmas" hymn, but one that is appropriate to the Christmas season because of its gorgeous message, emphasizes peace and reconciliation through self-discipline and self-sacrifice. There is a keyword found in the very first sentence of the prayer, which is "instrument". Francis prays to be made an instrument of God’s peace. This is a word that indicates "action". It suggests a very pro-active stance in peacemaking. Some years ago a "buzz" phrase sprang up in our culture, something about "waging peace not war". This is what the use of the word "instrument" seems to suggest about St. Francis, I think. It is a word that can have multiple meanings. In Romans 6:13 Paul uses it to refer to a "weapon" – an instrument of war, so to speak.


The prayer is a study in paradox. It shows us clearly how things in God’s world are often "upside down". Jesus set the example for us and Francis followed in his footsteps. In our lives in this world we strive for "rights", while in the Kingdom of God we relinquish what we believe we deserve to seek a more lowly place. In the world in which we live we strive for power, while in the Kingdom, we embrace a life of service to others, a life of subordination of power. In the world we strive for self-fulfillment, while in the Kingdom we die to ourselves and strive for the fulfillment of others’ needs, wants and wishes.


These are NOT negative things, and part of the task of Christians is to learn this absolutely. Francis himself is known for his joy and most of all as one who overflowed with love – for God, for people, and for every part of God’s creation. These are the things that make for peace.


Reflect for a time today how contrary this teaching is to the mood of "our" day. Think of paradoxes and the role they play in our lives. This may includes those times in life when you found it true that giving led to receiving; that pardoning brought you freedom, or that dying to self brought you "new life".


Prayer - Oh, God, our prayer this day is the prayer of St. Francis. We pray that you will make us instruments of your peace, sowing love in place of hatred; granting, as You do, pardon for the injuries of life; replacing faith for doubting; bringing hope to all who despair. We would flood light into darkness and add joy to the sadness of our world. Help us to learn to understand others even more than we strive to be understood and to love even more than we seek to be loved, and to know that it is in these things, including dying, that we are born into your Kingdom to our eternal homes. Lord, we would be like Jesus . . . show us the way, for we pray in His blessed name, Amen~


Activity – Know when to quit. Learn and honor your limitations. As the season deepens and brings more and more obligations, parties, church programs, family get-togethers, and so many other things that demand our attention, it is vitally necessary for us to learn when to say, "No!" The old adage that says, "Winners never quit and quitters never win," is not so true as some would have us believe.  In a very excellent movie of some years back - called "War Games",  which is about global thermonuclear war, which would destroy the world in the process,  the conclusion comes "The only way to win is not to play at all".  So,  just as we see truth in other paradoxes of life, there is truth in the one that says, "Sometimes quitting is winning!"