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today was the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. he’s been my favorite Saint since i was a kid. i’ve always felt drawn to him, intertwined w/ my love for nature. as this day draws to a close i’ve been thinking about how St. Francis is the perfect antidote icon of our current challenges. St. Francis aligned himself w/ the poor even though he came from wealth, he chose peace after having seen the ravages & despair of war, he saw Christ & the sacred in every person & every thing, & he saw the power in serving others. what a statement for those in power in our time! St. Francis lived as close as anyone has to the message of Jesus – which is in stark contrast to the Christian Nationalism we see today. St. Francis was a true bodhisattva, to use a Buddhist term, leaving no one out in his ministry to be in solidarity w/ & serve those who suffer. even his famous prayer below, reads similar to a bodhisattva vow.

may we all have hearts like St. Francis.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

The Prayer of Saint Francis

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.

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