The St. Francis Prayer

This is the prayer known as the "St. Francis Prayer" or as it is known in some Twelve Step Groups as "The 11st Step" Prayer. Relax and take in these beautiful words as a meditation or as a centering prayer.

Transcript

This is a well-known and beloved prayer written by a man who had seen it all,

Done it all,

Had it all,

And still chose to give it all away.

He chose a life where he was free from material possessions and yet was filled with so much love his spirituality literally emanated from him.

He had such a beautiful and gentle light aura around him that all the animals were attracted to him.

So he's been forever known as the patron saint of animals.

Recognized by many as the Saint Francis prayer,

It is also known in 12-step programs as the 11-step prayer.

Let's just go through the words and then we'll use it as a centering prayer,

Adding our own personal reflection to each word.

You'll find yourself a comfortable position,

Free from distraction for a few minutes,

Allowing the simple yet powerful words to flow over you.

Breathe in,

Allowing the air to enter through your nostrils and down into your lungs,

Belly soft,

Shoulder blades supporting your back as you let distracting thoughts flow out with the breath.

Breathing in and out in a comfortable way at your own pace as you allow the healing power of these words to come in.

Lord,

Make me an instrument of thy peace that where there is hatred I may bring love,

That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

That where there is discord I may bring harmony,

That where there is error I may bring truth,

That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

That where there is despair I may bring hope,

That where there are shadows I may bring light,

That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

God grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,

To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds,

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Now allow these words to come to you and flow into you as you allow yourself to go a little deeper.

Let these words carry healing into yourself as you open your spirit to this contemplative centering prayer.

Lord,

Make me an instrument of thy peace.

Peace.

That where there is hatred I may bring love,

Love.

That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

Forgiveness.

That where there is discord I may bring harmony,

Harmony.

That where there is error I may bring truth,

Truth.

That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

Faith.

That where there is despair I may bring hope,

Hope.

That where there are shadows I may bring light,

Light.

That where there is sadness I may bring joy,

Joy.

Lord,

Grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,

Comfort.

To understand than to be understood,

Understand.

To love than to be loved,

Loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds self-forgetting.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

Forgiving.

It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life,

Awakens.

If you want to linger here a little longer with these words you can choose one word and just let it repeat in yourself.

It could be harmony,

It could be faith,

It could be joy,

It could be love.

Make what you need for today.

And if you need a few more minutes you can stop this and just contemplate and come back.

Whatever your choice it's perfect for now.

I hope you have a beautiful blessed day.

Thank you.

Reviews

I deeply felt this prayer, these words today. Thank you. 🙏🏾

Thank you for sharing this amazing prayer 🙏 Just what I needed today to remind me I have a choice in how I show up for the people in my life. ♥️

Lovely prayer and wonderful to spend time sitting with it. Thank You

Dear Gera,
This was absolutely beautiful! A whole new way to see and pray and contemplate this powerful prayer! I am very grateful and will come back to this many times! Thank you 🙏

Thank you for sharing these Words of Light & Love 🙏💜

One of my favourite prayers to set me on a right path! Thank you for starting my day with this intention! Blessings 🙏🙏🙏

Wow. This was exactly what I need to contemplate and meditate on for my present circumstances. Gera voice and the background melody is very soothing to the soul.

One of my favourite prayers! Just perfect, and so nicely done here. Thanks Gera for your service with this gift of meditation.

Awakening 🙏🕯️🌟🕯️🙏

Such a beautiful version of this prayer. Thank you 🙏💞

I love this prayer and the story that proceeds it 🙏🩵

LOVEly, www.gratefulness.otg, ahimsa

Just what I needed to hear this morning. Thank you 🙏

That was lovely, and your voice so soothing 💗 thank you

This is lovely, thank you! Beautiful verses to meditate on❤️. My mom passed 3 weeks ago and I’m prepping for what I will share at her service. This is very calming and centering for me.
I noticed by others commenting that you have some “live” things on IT . I’m going to check them out🙏

That was amazing the slow way you read @ prayed it was awesome thanks Gera !!

Nice centering prayer. I like the fact that it didn’t have a bell at the end, so it’s useful as a meditation at night to go to sleep to. I gave it five stars, but it perpetuates misinformation that it was actually written by Saint Francis. It was named after him, but it wasn’t actually written by him. Otherwise, this guided meditation is perfect in every way. Where I saw error, I brought the spirit of forgiveness. Thank you so much for providing it. I’m sure I will go back to this time again.

Great energy .. my third eye was buzzing by the end. Geras soothing voice really helps to relax into the meditation/prayer

Coming back to this today
I feel I want to understand rather than to be understood. It’s very freeing to let go of the need to explain yourself
Thank you Gera
🙏🏼

My favorite prayer and so beautiful in your soothing voice! 💜

Thank you for this meditation! I often think of Saint Francis and the Buddha as spiritual and humanist companions.