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.
屬靈偉人的禱文可用作默想之用。當然,這不能代替每日靈修基於神話語而來的默想。但許多屬靈偉人的禱文都充滿豐富屬靈的信息,可作輔助性默想之用。
以下是一則家喻戶曉的「法蘭西斯的禱文」 ("The Prayer of Francis of Asissi")。讓我們藉這禱文作一次自我反省。
「主啊,求您使我成為您賜平安的管道;
在憎恨之處散佈仁愛,在罪惡之處傳送寬恕,
在衝突之處建立和諧,在錯誤之處彰顯真理,
在失望之處帶出希望,在黑暗之處活現光明,
在憂愁之處播下喜樂。
「主啊,求您使我寧願安慰人,不求得人安慰;
體恤人,而不求被體恤;愛人,而不求被愛。
「因為在施予的時候,人才能接受;捨己,才可獲得;
饒恕,才能被饒恕;死亡,才有永生的醒覺。阿門。
這則禱文成為眾聖徒所喜愛,歷久而不衰,並非沒有原因的。讓我們從這則禱文看兩個屬靈的重點: