You remember Sister Magdalene of the Open Window. She’s the headmaster at St. Gangulf Middle School, and sent us Fred, the Intern Penitent after the unfortunate Whoopee Cushion incident.
By the way, Fred is doing fine, and has become a key player in our 2 hectare hybrid radish garden (assistant to the Operations Director). Go Waggies!
Sister Magdalene of the Open Window has an ongoing problem. Her Religious Ed volunteers keep bailing at the last minute.
Being the headmaster of 7th and 8th graders, Sister M has developed a pretty good BS detector.
Most of the excuses boil down to “Sunday morning with a bunch of feral 7th graders? I’m going back to bed.”
Some of her favorite excuses:
- This is definitely the morning of the rapture, and I need to get the pets emotionally prepared
- I thought today was a Feast Day of St. Someone. I fasted accidentally and now my blood sugar is low.
- I re-read the curriculum and remembered there are 7th graders.
- My sourdough starter has achieved sentience and requires pastoral counseling.
- When Jesus said ‘Let the little children come to me,’ I realized I shouldn’t interfere.
- Sister, I woke with a profound awareness of my own unworthiness.
Any Port in a Storm
The turning point: dignity meets desperation.
Sister M asked us to fill in at the last minute, and we were happy to oblige, even though it meant postponing our Sunday Benediction of the Eggs Benedict.
We Meet the Kids
The emotional support chicken was a big hit!
We decided to start the class with The Prayer of St. Francis. Low on partisan theology, high on practical advice, and full of interesting paradoxes.
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.
Amen.
Some of the kids had heard the prayer. One kid thought the phrase “sow love” was “sew love”, so we had the opportunity to introduce a bit of agriculture to the talk.
But the prayer had a lot of practical implications for these kids:
- Where is there hatred? (group chat, gossip, sports rivalry, bullying)
- Where is there injury? (public embarrassment, sarcasm)
- Where is there doubt? (fitting in, academic pressure, what is it all about?)
It’s practical. It’s behavioral. It sidesteps theological minefields. It translates directly into daily choices.
We’re not asking them to parse doctrine. We’re asking them how they treat people at lunch.
The Prayer of St. Francis: Some Background
The anonymous text that is usually called the Prayer of Saint Francis (or Peace Prayer, or Simple Prayer for Peace, or Make us an Instrument of Your Peace) is a widely known Christian prayer for peace. Often associated with the Italian Saint Francis of Assisi (c. 1182 – 1226), but entirely absent from his writings, the prayer in its present form has not been traced back further than 1912. Its first known occurrence was in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published by a Catholic organization in Paris named La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). The author’s name was not given, although it may have been the founder of La Ligue, Father Esther Bouquerel. The prayer was heavily publicized during both World War I and World War II. It has been frequently set to music by notable songwriters and quoted by prominent leaders, and its broadly inclusive language has found appeal with many faiths encouraging service to others.
Possible inspirations for the prayer
The second half of the prayer bears a strong resemblance to this famous saying of Giles of Assisi (c. 1190 – 1262), one of Francis’s closest companions:Beatus ille qui amat, et non desiderat amari:Wikipedia
beatus ille qui timet, et non desiderat timeri:
beatus ille qui servit, et non desiderat sibi serviri:
beatus ille bene se gerit erga alios, et non ut alii se bene gerant erga ipsum:
et quia haec magna sunt, ideo stulti ad ea non attingunt.[6]
Blessed is he who loves and does not therefore desire to be loved;
Blessed is he who fears and does not therefore desire to be feared;
Blessed is he who serves and does not therefore desire to be served;
Blessed is he who behaves well toward others and does not desire that others behave well toward him;
And because these are great things, the foolish do not rise to them.
Sarah McLachlan has a beautiful version…