A Prayer for Valentine’s Day

A PRAYER FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

“The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi”—have you heard it?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I remember this prayer. You’ve probably heard it said that love isn’t just a warm, fuzzy feeling, but it’s action. If you truly love, it will show through what you do. Although this is a prayer for peace, I see in Saint Francis’s words a definition of love. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. NKJV

My sister-in-law sang “The Prayer of Saint Francis” at my wedding. I think it’s an appropriate accompaniment to wedding vows—words of love and faithfulness. I’m familiar with two different musical versions of this beautiful prayer, one a formal composition, which my sister-in-law sang, and the other a folk melody, which we sang in our college campus ministry meetings.

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; and 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.

In our tumultuous world, we long for peace. Francis reaches out to God, asking that he might be an instrument to bring about peace among people through his words, actions, and attitudes. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, along with love and joy and other qualities (see Galatians 5:22,23). Ultimate peace will only come about when Jesus Christ returns to rule, but in the meantime, we can be His instruments for peace in our world by reaching out to others in love.

The apostle Paul reminds us:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV)