Naomh Phroinsias - Saint Francis of Assisi

St Francis of Assisi This is a magnificent prayer, inspirational for the development of my spiritual life, and motivational for living the Christian life as "an instrument of your peace". I have known of the Prayer since my teenage years. I wrote the Prayer into the pages of the first leather bound Bible I purchased when I first started working after graduating from High School (It cost a week's pay: $30).

In my ministry I often used the Prayer in the worship services, and also as a benediction to conclude the service, and in choirs; I have sung the Prayer. I am sure that the Prayer has universal appeal beyond its use by Christians because of its main theme, peace: how that peace is expressed in daily human relationships, the cost of commitment to that life of peace, and the resulting blessing of having lived such a life of peace.
Amid the useless bloodshed of the Crusades, the story of the early 13th-century friar Francis of Assisi suggests an extended clash of civilizations between Islam and the West was not preordained.
... Rev. Clement Birkelbach, Whiting, New Jersey.

St. Francis was born in Assisi, Italy in 1181 and died there in 1226. St. Francis' Feast day is observed in the church calendar on October 4th, the day of his death, the day he was born into eternal life. He is regarded as the patron of animals, animal lovers, animal shelters, and ecologists.

 

Déan gléas chun síochána díom id láimh, a Thiarna
San áit a bhfuil fuath go gcuire me an grá
..san áit a bhfuil ciontacht go gcuire me; pardún
..san áit a bhfuil amhras go gcuire me creideamh
..in áit na éadóchas; go gcuire me an dóchas;
..in áit na dorchadas go gcuire me solas
..san áit in a bhfuil brón go gcuire me lúcháir

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;

A Thiarna, deonaigh a spreagadh dhom
.. sólas a thabhairt seachas sólas a fháil
.. dul i dtuiscint ar dhaoine seachas go dtuigfí me féin
..Grá a roinnt ar dhaoine seachas grá fháil uathu

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.

.

Mar is le linn dúinn tabhairt a fhaighimid féin
..is le linn dúinn pardún a thabhairt a mhaitear dúinn
..is le linn dúinn bás a fháil a théimid i seilbh na beatha síoraí.

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.

* The phonetics on this page are an approximation as a guide in pronunciation. Check with Fóclóir Póca for the official standard phonetics.

IrishPage.com February 2004, courtesy of Jack & Vivian

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