Journey With The Saints 1 - St Francis

Saint Francis of Assisi is the first saint that we are looking at in this series about connecting with the saints.

Now,

The prayer of Saint Francis is one that is very dear to me,

Even though it is not necessarily that Saint Francis himself wrote it.

Why it is so dear?

It is because it starts with the words,

Make me an instrument of thy peace.

And it does not matter to me what religious background we come from.

When we open ourselves to be instruments of peace,

Just merely letting peace flow through us,

Then we connect with divine purpose and we become part of that full divinity.

Now,

Saint Francis was born to Italian parents,

An Italian father and a French mother.

And he was quite rich growing up.

And at some stage,

He started looking down on the way of life that he had been living.

And he got into trouble with his father when he saw an image of God saying to him that he needed to build up his church again.

What he did was steal some cloth of his father's store and sell it and try to give that money to the priest,

Who then of course refused to take the money.

He then fled and lived in a cave.

And when he came back a month later,

He was dirty and tired.

And his father had him beaten and locked up,

After which his mother then freed him when his father went away.

But in there,

Francis started looking after people.

He wondered as a beggar in the hills,

But in that he connected people with God.

And he embraced the life with his perfect wife,

Lady Poverty,

He called her.

But he embraced the life of being a penitent,

Trying to restore what the world had broken down.

And he did it in a practical manner.

He tried to restore chapels and churches all around Assisi.

But with all of that,

He then taught other people the value of being a channel,

The value of poverty,

Of not tying a lot of energy and a lot of power into the things of the earth.

And he taught us the value of allowing God,

Allowing divinity to work through us.

And that is the lesson that we learn from St.

Francis.

We learn from St.

Francis to become an instrument of the peace of God.

And he teaches us about letting go of the preconceptions and greed that we have of life and living life in harmony with the universe.

And as we now prepare to connect with the energy of St.

Francis of Assisi,

I would like for you to just find a comfortable position.

And when you have that,

You can gently close your eyes.

We're going to take three deep,

Beautiful breaths together.

Breathe in and out.

And in and out.

In and out.

In front of you,

You see a set of stairs.

And you start climbing those stairs.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

In front of you is a doorway.

With the door closed.

Take a deep breath.

Open the door.

And walk in.

You find yourself.

In a round chamber.

In the middle of the chamber is a pedestal.

And all around the walls,

You see doors.

Closed doors.

The chamber is filled with light.

And you feel safe and secure in this chamber.

From one of the doors,

You hear the sound of somebody praying.

You walk to that door.

Open it.

And step through.

You find yourself.

On a beautiful hill.

The path meandering down the hill.

You feel the sun shine on your face.

Slight breeze.

Start walking along the path.

Down the hill.

At the bottom of the hill,

You find a small hut.

Very modest.

Not even a door on this hut.

You step in and you find the source of the praying.

A man in a brown habit.

St.

Francis.

On his knees.

Praying to God.

St.

Francis looks up at you.

And you see a face filled with joy.

Filled with wonder.

Filled with mischief.

He gives you a wink and beckons you to sit down next to him.

You do so.

And you hear St.

Francis pray.

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 never 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.

And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

You can feel the energy pass through you.

The divine connection.

You feel your life as being one of instrumental of peace.

You share the radiance of St.

Francis.

You feel his joy.

St.

Francis reaches into his pocket.

And he hands you a jewel.

Filled with the memory of peace.

Filled with the knowledge of how to connect and become an instrument of divine peace.

You take this beautiful jewel.

You thank St.

Francis as he turns back to his adoration and prayer.

You head out of the house and back up the hill.

Enjoying the view of the countryside.

Seeing it with new eyes.

You reach the door,

Open it,

Step back into the chamber.

Close the door behind you.

And you put the jewel in the middle on the pedestal.

It shines brightly.

You head towards the first doorway that you came in from.

You open that doorway and start descending the steps again.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

You become aware of your surroundings.

Becoming more and more awake.

And present in the very moment you are.

And when you are ready,

Take a deep breath and open your eyes.

Thank you for journeying with me.