A prayer before going to Grandma's house

It's no secret: not every family in America is a perfect picture of peace and tranquility. Family members and close friends are capable of pushing each other's buttons.

This can be stressful. This year's "holiday" movies are based on themes of getting away from such people [or not]. If any of this sounds familiar to you, I suggest this Prayer attributed to St. Francis. Pray it before you gather for your Thanksgiving feast or maybe even during or after:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we 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.

[The Book of Common Prayer, 833]


In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Vicar, Holy Cross Church Episopal
Billings, MT
406-208-7314
www.holycrosschurchbillings.org
Photo: Statue of Saint Francis of Assisi
Garden outside retreat house
Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, GA
January 2008