My only hope is to honour the legacy.
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.
St. Francis of Assisi
Peace - Lauren
you email me i'm blaxandsparx. This is the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi,evidently we both like it.if you want to here a song about it check out Sarah McLachlan version, i do like it so. good day to you. Check my blog at marsian-thebiblenotebook.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI know chanted, memorized prayers have their place, but for me, the words lose their meanings. it is no different than hearing an old song on the radio that you know the words to. You can repeat the words over and over, but do the words have a true profound meaning? For me. the prayers that have the strongest meaning are the ones I say myself off the top of my head. that is when I am talking to God like he's there listening.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree but sometimes listening in on someonelse's conversation with God gives you a starting point for your own.
ReplyDeleteWhen God brought this childhood memory back to me and I looked at the words again with the perspective of an adult, the entire experience, including the profound peace with which my father would sing the song, gained new meaning, it was as if I was experiencing it again for the first time.
I understand your point and don't really disagree with you. I will be the first to admit that I am not Catholic or Orthodox, so such things have less appeal to me. I am not one of those nutjobs that say "if you're not a member of my church, you're goin to hell. Believe me, Christianity is full of them. I know that God looks at a believers' heart not their place of worship. Still, I disagree with the "heirarchy" or rulership of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. That tends to turn me off to chants or prayers that I know have such origins. I still get more out of things that I have not memorized as I tend to not have a set definition of such meanings and so I give them more thought. Many people try to memorize Bible verses and for most folks that is good, (sorry about the early send, my leopard pounced me and stole my iPhone) so for me, memorizing verses is not good because it closes my mind to the meaning of the text. I prefer being open minded regarding
ReplyDeletebiblical text as viewpoints change as I learn more and study more.
if you ever get the chance, watch "exodus decoded" on history international. it was produced by James Cameron ( Titanic, Avatar) it is awesome. it shows scientifically how the exodus happened without questioning the existence or intervention of God. it will change your mental picture of the Exodus story. if you don't get H.int, I can send you the DVD,
Sent from my Iphone
I'm not catholic either but we have to recognize that at the time of St. Francis everyone was, he didn't have a choice in the matter. In ignoring the writings and ideas of some of the historical church leaders protestants have done themselves a great diservice.
ReplyDeleteForget about the chanting or rote memorization and just read the words, as if you are seeing them for the first time. Even 500 years later they remain powerful and profound.