The Peace Prayer indicates that if we spend a lot of time in front of the mirror staring at ourselves, we will never enjoy peace. We will continue to be chained to our fears, attachments, control issues, and sense of entitlement. Or we will go through each day seething with resentment. Or, even worse, we will constantly be throwing a pity party and feeling very much alone and isolated. Following the example of the Lord and Divine Master, like Saint Francis, we too must clear an interior space and empty ourselves for peace to blossom within our lives and the lives of others.
The Peace Prayer envisions us as farmers in the world. Like our Divine Master, we create an interior space by emptying ourselves of fears, attachments, control issues, and the sense of entitlement. We look beyond the pain others inflict upon us and refuse to strike back in violence. Indeed, we beat the swords of our hearts into plowshares and the spears of our souls into pruning hooks (see Isaiah 2:4). As instruments, we then ask for the grace to actively till the earth and sow the seeds of peace while waiting with great anticipation for the harvest of justice.
—from the book Soul Training with the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
by Albert Haase, OFM
