Searching for Peace

On this morning following an historic election, my heart is sore and troubled.  Many are rejoicing, while many of us are aghast.  Our country faces a difficult road ahead in the coming weeks, months and years.  The division amongst our citizens seems unfathomable, unbridgeable.  

Then, God reminds me that, though what I see seems overwhelming and impossible, he sees a bigger picture, one that at this moment in time, I cannot understand.  But He is at work, He is all powerful, all knowing.  In Him -  Lord God of all, maker of heaven and earth - will I trust.  

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

   I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,

   in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

   on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

   whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,

   the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

   who executes justice of the oppressed,

   who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

   the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the sojourners;

   he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

   but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,

   your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

The Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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 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;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.