Prayer of Saint Francis

Passage meditation: 

my first serious commitment to meditation was with using Eknath Easwaran's passage meditation practice, a method of devotional concentration on a certain spiritual excerpt from a religious or inspired text that has stood out through time for it's deeply moving message. Using passages from the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and other spiritual texts, most specifically The Prayer of Saint Francis - the student memorizes the words and slowly, silently, repeats them as if each word is a single mantra, allowing the meaning to sink within, the passage becoming a living part of us and shaping how we conduct our daily lives. It's a beautiful practice, leading to great stillness as the words fall away to a quiet mind. Easwaran believed that we become what we meditate upon and that a spiritual passage would lend itself to a higher quality of life. 

I believe so too. 

this is why Easwaran would recommend beginning with the Prayer of Saint Francis, committing to these words as the foundation of our practice. It's a prayer I turn to often, even outside the use in meditation, and through the years of practicing Passage Meditation, it's meaning has become a very real part of me, expressed in a very real sense through the actions of my life. 

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace...

the prayer opens with a request to be of service, to put our own desires aside for just a moment and be granted as use for a more peaceful world. The genius of the prayer is that our own needs are met through service of others, it goes on in the same line of thought, asking for the ability to forgive and see light within others, to find hope through despair, and offer only love. With passage meditation the meaning of these beautiful words sink deep within and become a living part of us, expressed through our daily actions and concerns. 

this is a meditation that changes us from within, growing, becoming who we are - and it's something we seem to really need right now during this troubled time, a commitment to a greater peace, planting the seeds of forgiveness, love, and understanding others deep within our hearts and mind. Not everyone has a wish to meditate each morning, understandable, although the practice will only benefit our lives, it's a commitment that seems to find us only when we're ready. Yet the prayer itself is available now, Saint Francis words offers us a better way, a more compassionate way of living, and just a few minutes of gentle observation of their meaning is enough to change our lives. It's spiritual technology, a means and practice of transformation realized just by briefly reading and remembering its message. 

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace...

my own practice has changed through the years, I've committed to a mantra practice, sitting twice daily for an extended time, teaching others this method as well. But passage meditation remains a part of me, an extension of my deep desire to serve others, the prayer of Saint Francis ringing through my soul and being an essential part of every interaction. I return to these words often, the practice of passage meditation too, they're simply part of who I am now, what I truly wish to give to others. 

Where there is hatred, let me sow love...

~

Peace, Eric