Prayer of St. Francis (Traditional Peace Prayer)

This beloved peace prayer, long associated with St. Francis in popular devotion, asks to become an instrument of God's peace. The English form below is the traditional public-domain wording widely printed in early twentieth-century devotionals.

The Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy 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. 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.

Traditional English Peace Prayer (early 20th-c. devotionals; public domain wording).