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Prayer of St. Francis

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;

And 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,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

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(From the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying)

 

May I be a protector to those without protection

A leader for those who journey

And a boat, a bridge, a passage

Foe those desiring the further shore.

May the pain of every living creature

Be completely cleared away

May I be the doctor, the medicine

And may I be the nurse

For all the sick beings in the world

Until everyone is healed.

Just like space

And the great elements such as earth,

May I always support the life

Of all boundless creatures.

And until they pass away from pain

May I also be a source of life 

For all the realms of varied beings

That reach unto the ends of space.

 

Sogyal  Rinpoche

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Footprints

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamt he was walking with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes of his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.

 

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it had happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
 

This really bothered the man and he questioned the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."  

The Lord replied,

"My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

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The Lord's Prayer

(Oratio Dominica)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

 

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Glory Be 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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