The Prayer of St. Francis with the Bodhisattva Vow

Image in Palomas, Mexico

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., was recently asked to offer the closing prayer at a parish event in Cambridge, Ma., featuring distinguished Catholic theologian Paul Knitter, author of Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian (One World, 2009).

"Given the interfaith and exploratory nature of the event, I thought that in the closing prayer for this ecumenical and interfaith gathering, I would bring together, in one utterance, the Christian and Buddhist streams of prayer," said Rev. Clooney.  "I did so by weaving together a famous prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi with a version of the vow of the Bodhisattva (a kind of Buddhist saint who vows the protection of all beings, and delays her or his own liberation until all beings have been liberated)."

Read more in Buddhist Christian Prayer/s in the In All Things blog (America Magazine)

The Prayer of St. Francis with the Bodhisattva Vow

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.

May I be a safeguard for those who have no protection,
A guide for those who journey along the way;
For those who wish to go across the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

May I be a home port for those who yearn for landfall,
And a lamp for those who long for the light;
For those who are tired, may I be a resting place,
For all who need help, their servant.

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.

Like the great earth itself and other eternal things,
Enduring as the sky itself endures,
For the boundless multitude of living beings,
May I be the ground and vessel of their lives.

For every single thing that lives,
In number like the boundless reaches of the sky,
May I be their sustenance and nourishment
Until they pass beyond the bounds of suffering.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

It is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

 Francis X. Clooney, S.J.