New Year Resolution and Blessing

I sit at my computer thinking back on 2020 and hope and pray that this year will be better than last year.  Even though in the past 244 years of our country's history we have experienced and worked through many difficulties with wars, plaques, the great depression, floods, earthquakes, poverty, racism, the recession, and other challenging issues, seldom has our country been so divided.

So often the problems we have faced in the past have brought us closer together rather than tearing us apart.  I believe we can again come together to solve the issues of today, not by compromising our values, nor by trying to prove the other side wrong, but by listening with an open mind and heart to see where we can find the value and the wisdom in others while still being true to our own unique way of being.

One very wise person in history who we can learn from is the 13th century mystic, St. Francis of Assisi.  His connection with the Divine was so profound that he was truly an instrument of love and peace.  He didn't compromise his values, but he loved so deeply that his words and his example have echoed through the centuries.

If all of us resolve to follow the words of St. Francis in his simple but powerful prayer written over 800 years ago, perhaps we can make a difference in 2021.

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.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Love and Peace,
Mary

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