Stand By Me

Becoming an instrument of God

Father, make me an instrument of your Peace---
Where there is hatred, let me show love.
Where there is injury, let me give pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me have faith.
Where there is darkness, let me spread light.
Where there is sadness, help me find joy!

Allow me everyday to see the truth through all illusion
Give me the strength to follow your guidance
Give me the wisdom to understand the signs
Give me the courage to do what is needed

Lead me my Father to my personal destiny
Make me an instrument of change
Show me the way.

Open my eyes so I may see your face in every man and woman
Open my heart so I may feel the love for everyone and every thing
Open my ears so I may hear your voice in every song and noise

Allow me Father to understand the deeper mysteries of life
To use what I have learnt to bring light into darkness
To bring compassion into cruelty
To bring wisdom into confusion

Give me the strength to follow my heart
In the face of all conflict and adversity
To love above all else.
To go beyond my mortal mind.

Grant that I may not so much seek To be understood,
as to understand, To be loved, as to love.
Then, miracle shall follow miracle
And wonders shall never cease!

I begin this day by remembering
the sound and feeling of the One Being
The wellspring of love
And I affirm that the next thing I experience
Shimmers with the light of the whole universe...

Thank you Father for this day
Thank you, thank you, thank you...

~Shafin de Zane

(Inspired by the prayer of Francesco Bernadone of Assisi)

Arky Arky

Spirit of God

Spirit of God 

Spirit of God,
you are the breath of creation,
the wind of change
that blows through our lives,
opening us up to new dreams and new hopes,
new life in Jesus Christ.

Forgive us our closed minds
which barricade themselves
against new ideas,
preferring the past
to what you might want to do through us tomorrow.

Forgive our closed eyes
which fail to see the needs of your world,
blind to opportunities of service and love.

Forgive our closed hands
which clutch our gifts and our wealth
for our own use alone.

Forgive us our closed hearts
which limit our affections to ourselves
and our own.

Spirit of new life,
forgive us and break down
the prison walls of our selfishness,
that we might be open to your love
and open for the service of your world,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

(Taken from Education for Justice)