Saint Francis Novena | Day Six: Peace

You are holy, Lord, the only God
And your deeds are wonderful.
You are strong.
You are great.
You are the Most High,
You are almighty.
You, holy Father, are
King of heaven and earth.
You are Three and One,
Lord God, all good.
You are Good, all God, supreme Good,
Lord God, living and true.
(Praises of God)

Reflection

Approximately 100 years after Saint Francis died, Dante Aligheri wrote The Divine Comedy, in which we read, “In his [God’s] will is our peace.” Francis’ strong affirmation of the Trinity is possible only because God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are never in competition with one another. No one’s goodness takes anything away from the goodness of the other two persons of the Trinity.

We frequently think in zero-sum terms: Every piece of a pie you cut for yourself means there is that much less for me. This guarantees jealousy—and a constant appeal to someone else’s actions to explain my own.

Over time, Saint Francis knew exactly who he was before God, and thus he never felt threatened by anyone else’s success. He also trained himself—and tried to train the friars—not to become angry because of someone else’s sins.

One of life’s ironies is that we are very slow to claim credit for the only thing for which we are fully responsible: our sins.

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Saint Francis on…

Peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Mt. 5:9). They are truly peacemakers who are able to preserve their peace of mind and heart for love of our Lord Jesus Christ, despite all that they suffer in this world.”

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Prayer

God of justice and peace, very often we are tempted
to accept a counterfeit peace: individually or
collectively imposing our will on other people. Show
us how to live in such a way that we can honestly say
at ever-deeper levels and with greater conviction,
“In your will is our peace.”

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