Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you

This song, usually called ‘The Prayer of St Francis’, is so simple that it can speak to children, yet so profound that it challenges all.

It speaks of peace… There is international or national peace… Peace speaks of my relationships… I need peace with others… I need to be at peace with myself.  

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there’s despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there’s sadness ever joy

Peace speaks of transformation. Our despair, darkness and sadness can change. Our self-centred world of conflict, rudeness, pain and power can become one of kindness, respect, hope and generosity.

I can be part of that change… turning negatives to positives… I can take peace to others.

Make me a channel of your peace
It isn’t pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men let we receive
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life

Make me… I can’t do it alone… it doesn’t come naturally… my efforts alone are insufficient… I need greater sensitivity, strength, determination…

A channel… I can’t create or generate peace… I’m just the agent… I only pass on what I have received.

Your peace… This is super-human peace… Jesus said: ‘Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.’ He left us his Spirit to bring ‘Love, joy, peace…’

Pardoning… I need to forgive… not hold on to past wrongs… forgiving the faults of others… forgiving myself… my failures and disappointments.

Giving… I want to get… money, material things, stuff… respect, my rights, happiness, security… I receive by not by grasping and grabbing but by giving.

Dying… The final frontier… I’m not a fearful victim… the end is actually the beginning.

Make me a channel of your peace…