May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, hard hearts, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live from deep within your heart where God’s spirit dwells.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world and in your neighborhood, so that you will courageously try what you don’t think you can do, but in Jesus Christ you will have the strength necessary to do.
May God bless you that you remember we are called to continue God’s redemptive work of love and healing in God’s place, in and through God’s name, in God’s spirit continually creating and breathing new life in grace into everything and everyone we touch.
Wow. As Tracee said on her blog, "Dang! Now that is praying!" Hope you are blessed by it as well. See you again tomorrow as we return to stories of my 2001 Tijuana mission trip.
Because of Jesus,
I love reading it again, Carl!! My favorite part of that prayer is being the foolishness to believe i can do something. That is hard to hope for right now. I am in a place of waiting. I'm learning a ton of really crucial things while waiting, just hard to stay hopeful. This prayer is so encouraging to read!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing this prayer, Tracee. The foolishness is my favorite part as well. It is so encouraging!
ReplyDeleteWe are reading this book in our staff meeting at my church. We were recently suppose to read just the intro and chapter 1 I ended up reading the whole book in about 2-3 days. It is a great book and I still have to go back so I can digest a couple of things. I would definitely recommend it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a variation of a prayer composed approximately 25 years ago by Sr. Ruth Fox, OSB.
ReplyDeleteIn the last couple of years it, or variations of it, has frequently appeared on the web attributing it to St. Francis of Assisi or the Franciscans, the latest being
http://datinggod.org/2011/05/30/a-franciscan-prayer-for-memorial-day/
When I first saw this happening, I located Sister Ruth and asked her if she indeed were the prayer's author. She replied saying
“You are absolutely correct. I am the author of that prayer. I composed it in the spring of 1985 or thereabouts. I was chaplain at the Catholic Student Center at Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, and was asked to provide the Benediction for a graduation breakfast. It was totally original. I had never seen a similar prayer by Francis. It would be a great coincidence if there was a similar one.”
I ask you please to credit Sr. Ruth .
I am honored to have this correction posted here and glad to give the credit for the writing of this beautiful prayer to Sister Ruth. Regardless of its origin, it certainly draws us nearer to God.
ReplyDelete