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The Prayer of Saint Francis: A Message Of Peace For The World Today
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon . . .
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".
This famous prayer, traditionally attributed to Saint Francis, has traveled the world, winning hearts and inspiring minds with its simple and persuasive witness to the power of unconditional love. As Leonardo Boff shows in his moving reflections, this love not only brings each person the promise of eternal salvation, but also provides the basis for social peace, redeems the world, and constitutes the hidden meaning of the universe.
Where there is injury, pardon . . .
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".
This famous prayer, traditionally attributed to Saint Francis, has traveled the world, winning hearts and inspiring minds with its simple and persuasive witness to the power of unconditional love. As Leonardo Boff shows in his moving reflections, this love not only brings each person the promise of eternal salvation, but also provides the basis for social peace, redeems the world, and constitutes the hidden meaning of the universe.
- GenresSpirituality
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Leonardo Boff
286 books72 followersLeonardo Boff, born as Genézio Darci Boff, in Concórdia, Santa Catarina, Brazil, on the December 14, 1938. He is the grandson of Italian immigrants from the region of Veneto who came to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the final part of the nineteenth century. He received his primary and secondary education in Concórdia - Santa Catarina, Rio Negro - Paraná, and Agudos - São Paulo. He studied Philosophy in Curitiba - Paraná and Theology in Petrópolis - Rio de Janeiro. He joined the Order of the Franciscan Friars Minor in 1959 and received his doctorate in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Munich - Germany, in 1970.
For 22 years he was the professor of Systematic and Ecumenical Theology at the Franciscan Theological Institute in Petrópolis. He has served as a professor of Theology and Spirituality in various centers of higher learning and universities in Brazil and the rest of the world, in addition to being a visiting professor at the universities of Lisbon (Portugal), Salamanca (Spain), Harvard (United States), Basel (Switzerland), and Heidelberg (Germany).
He was present in the first reflections that sought to articulate indignance toward misery and marginalization with discourse, which later generated the Christian faith known as Liberation Theology. He has always been an ardent of the Human Rights cause, helping to formulate a new, Latin American perspective on Human Rights with, “Rights to Life and the ways to maintain them with dignity.”
He has received honorary doctorates, in Politics from the University of Turin (Italy) and in Theology for the University of Lund (Sweden). He has also been honored with various awards, within Brazil and the rest of the world, for his struggles on behalf of the weak, the oppressed and marginalized, and Human Rights.
From 1970 until 1985 he participated in the editorial council of Editora Vozes. During this time he participated in the coordination and publication of the collection, “Theology and Liberation” and the entire edition of the works of C. G. Jung. He was Editor-in-chief of “Revista Eclesiástica Brasileira” from 1970 to 1984, of “Revista de Cultura Vozes” from 1984 to 1992, and of “Revista Internacional Concilium” from 1970 to 1995.
In 1984, he was submitted to a process by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, former Holy Office, in the Vatican. This was due to his theses linked to liberation theology exposed in his book "Church: Charism and Power. In 1985 he was condemned to “obsequious silence” and was removed from his editorial functions and suspended from religious duties. Due to international pressure on the Vatican, the decision was repealed in 1986, allowing him to return to some of his previous activities.
In 1992, under renewed threats of a second punitive action by authorities in Rome, he renounced his activities as a priest and ‘promoted himself the state of laity.’ “I changed trenches to continue the same fight.” He continues as a liberation theologian, writer, professor, widely hear conference speaker in Brazil among other countries, also as an adviser of social movements of liberating popular matrix, as the Landless Movement and the Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs), between others.
In 1993 he was selected as professor of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
On December 8, 2001 he was honored with the alternative Nobel prize, “Right Livelihood Award” in Stockholm, Sweden.
He presently lives in Jardim Araras, an ecological wilderness area on the municipality of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He shares his life and dreams with the defender/educator of Human Rights from a new ecological paradigm, Marcia Maria Monteiro de Miranda. He has also become the “father by affinity” of a daughter and five sons, sharing the joys and sorrows of responsible parenthood. He lives, accompanies and recreates the unfolding of life in the “grandkids” Marina, Eduardo and Maira.
For 22 years he was the professor of Systematic and Ecumenical Theology at the Franciscan Theological Institute in Petrópolis. He has served as a professor of Theology and Spirituality in various centers of higher learning and universities in Brazil and the rest of the world, in addition to being a visiting professor at the universities of Lisbon (Portugal), Salamanca (Spain), Harvard (United States), Basel (Switzerland), and Heidelberg (Germany).
He was present in the first reflections that sought to articulate indignance toward misery and marginalization with discourse, which later generated the Christian faith known as Liberation Theology. He has always been an ardent of the Human Rights cause, helping to formulate a new, Latin American perspective on Human Rights with, “Rights to Life and the ways to maintain them with dignity.”
He has received honorary doctorates, in Politics from the University of Turin (Italy) and in Theology for the University of Lund (Sweden). He has also been honored with various awards, within Brazil and the rest of the world, for his struggles on behalf of the weak, the oppressed and marginalized, and Human Rights.
From 1970 until 1985 he participated in the editorial council of Editora Vozes. During this time he participated in the coordination and publication of the collection, “Theology and Liberation” and the entire edition of the works of C. G. Jung. He was Editor-in-chief of “Revista Eclesiástica Brasileira” from 1970 to 1984, of “Revista de Cultura Vozes” from 1984 to 1992, and of “Revista Internacional Concilium” from 1970 to 1995.
In 1984, he was submitted to a process by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, former Holy Office, in the Vatican. This was due to his theses linked to liberation theology exposed in his book "Church: Charism and Power. In 1985 he was condemned to “obsequious silence” and was removed from his editorial functions and suspended from religious duties. Due to international pressure on the Vatican, the decision was repealed in 1986, allowing him to return to some of his previous activities.
In 1992, under renewed threats of a second punitive action by authorities in Rome, he renounced his activities as a priest and ‘promoted himself the state of laity.’ “I changed trenches to continue the same fight.” He continues as a liberation theologian, writer, professor, widely hear conference speaker in Brazil among other countries, also as an adviser of social movements of liberating popular matrix, as the Landless Movement and the Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs), between others.
In 1993 he was selected as professor of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
On December 8, 2001 he was honored with the alternative Nobel prize, “Right Livelihood Award” in Stockholm, Sweden.
He presently lives in Jardim Araras, an ecological wilderness area on the municipality of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He shares his life and dreams with the defender/educator of Human Rights from a new ecological paradigm, Marcia Maria Monteiro de Miranda. He has also become the “father by affinity” of a daughter and five sons, sharing the joys and sorrows of responsible parenthood. He lives, accompanies and recreates the unfolding of life in the “grandkids” Marina, Eduardo and Maira.
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February 14, 2025Trechos destacados: “...Assumir e reforçar o pólo positivo não significa que tenhamos anulado o pólo negativo. Mas podemos impor limites à sua ação deletéria, como nos ensinam os grandes mestres espirituais da humanidade. O próprio Jesus em seu evangelho nos recorda que joio e trigo sempre estão misturados e não há como separá-los definitivamente. Se tentássemos, correríamos o risco de arrancarmos o trigo junto com o joio. O que podemos é distingui-los e viver um projeto de vida que se orienta pelo trigo sem nunca perder de vista a presença ameaçadora do joio...
Nós nos fazemos instrumentos da paz de Deus quando estamos de tal forma impregnados da paz, que nem sequer pensamos nela; irradiamos paz e benquerença, comunicamos bondade e amorosidade porque a paz de Deus se fez carne de nossa carne...
A verdadeira alegria não está na auto-estima, nem na necessidade de reconhecimento, nem em fazer milagres e falar em línguas. Em seu lugar coloca os fundamentos da cultura da paz: o amor, o perdão, a reconciliação para alem de qualquer pressuposição ou exigência. Só então irrompe a perfeita alegria que é uma paz interior inalterável, capaz de conviver jovialmente com as mais duras contradições, paz como fruto de completa abnegação...
Não há força que subjugue a ternura de um olhar e o afeto de um abraço. ‘O amor tudo desculpa, tudo crê, tudo espera, tudo tolera; o amor nunca acabará’ (1 Cor 13, 7-8). Que fazer para o amor superar o ódio? Organizar um projeto fundamental de vida onde o amor seja o eixo central, onde a força inspiradora de nossos desejos e de nossas ações das mais simples às mais altas, nasça do amor. O amor deve engravidar toda nossa vida. O que for gerado guarda os traços do amor, assim como a criança que nasce revela os traços da mãe e do pai. O amor não vence todas as batalhas. Ele conhece derrotas. Mas ganha a batalha decisiva e final...
A compreensão implica superar todo enrijecimento de opiniões e todo tipo de dogmatismo. Implica estar aberto a novas visões e fazê-las conviver com as suas. Daí a importância da tolerância. Ela não significa aprovação de tudo, nem aceitação daquilo que não se pode modificar. Significa a capacidade de respeitar as posições dos outros e de conviver jovialmente com elas. Somente quem as respeita ganha o direito de discuti-las, criticá-las e até de opor-se a elas. A tolerância permite a convivência com as diferenças, o enriquecimento mútuo, a convergência na diversidade e a união dinâmica e aberta a novos aportes...
Estamos nos braços do Pai e Mãe de infinita bondade. Por isso podemos nos entregar aos seus cuidados. Por ventos favoráveis ou contrários, Deus conduzirá nosso barco ao porto seguro...
Consolar, mais do que ser consolado, revela a grandeza do ser humano. É como Jesus na cruz, que se esqueceu de suas chagas e escutou as lamurias do ladrão a quem promete a vida eterna. E no termo da historia – nos recorda o Apocalipse – Deus mesmo intervirá ‘para enxugar as lágrimas de nossos olhos e então a morte já não existirá, nem haverá mais luto nem pranto, nem fadiga, porque tudo isso já passou’ (cf. Apoc 21, 4)...
Ante a incompreensão e até a distorção de suas convicções mais caras, esforça-se por manter o dialogo, buscando compreender, acolher e perdoar o próximo. Essa atitude inclui a todos, abraça o outro por ele mesmo e não apenas por causa da suas qualidade. Procura acolhê-los e apoiá-los até quando ele comete equívocos e erros...
Perdoar significa impedir que ele fique refém das conseqüências dos atos ofensivos que perpetrou. Perdoar implica a capacidade de suportar e de manter o laço da comunhão mesmo quando o outro lado se fecha...”
Nós nos fazemos instrumentos da paz de Deus quando estamos de tal forma impregnados da paz, que nem sequer pensamos nela; irradiamos paz e benquerença, comunicamos bondade e amorosidade porque a paz de Deus se fez carne de nossa carne...
A verdadeira alegria não está na auto-estima, nem na necessidade de reconhecimento, nem em fazer milagres e falar em línguas. Em seu lugar coloca os fundamentos da cultura da paz: o amor, o perdão, a reconciliação para alem de qualquer pressuposição ou exigência. Só então irrompe a perfeita alegria que é uma paz interior inalterável, capaz de conviver jovialmente com as mais duras contradições, paz como fruto de completa abnegação...
Não há força que subjugue a ternura de um olhar e o afeto de um abraço. ‘O amor tudo desculpa, tudo crê, tudo espera, tudo tolera; o amor nunca acabará’ (1 Cor 13, 7-8). Que fazer para o amor superar o ódio? Organizar um projeto fundamental de vida onde o amor seja o eixo central, onde a força inspiradora de nossos desejos e de nossas ações das mais simples às mais altas, nasça do amor. O amor deve engravidar toda nossa vida. O que for gerado guarda os traços do amor, assim como a criança que nasce revela os traços da mãe e do pai. O amor não vence todas as batalhas. Ele conhece derrotas. Mas ganha a batalha decisiva e final...
A compreensão implica superar todo enrijecimento de opiniões e todo tipo de dogmatismo. Implica estar aberto a novas visões e fazê-las conviver com as suas. Daí a importância da tolerância. Ela não significa aprovação de tudo, nem aceitação daquilo que não se pode modificar. Significa a capacidade de respeitar as posições dos outros e de conviver jovialmente com elas. Somente quem as respeita ganha o direito de discuti-las, criticá-las e até de opor-se a elas. A tolerância permite a convivência com as diferenças, o enriquecimento mútuo, a convergência na diversidade e a união dinâmica e aberta a novos aportes...
Estamos nos braços do Pai e Mãe de infinita bondade. Por isso podemos nos entregar aos seus cuidados. Por ventos favoráveis ou contrários, Deus conduzirá nosso barco ao porto seguro...
Consolar, mais do que ser consolado, revela a grandeza do ser humano. É como Jesus na cruz, que se esqueceu de suas chagas e escutou as lamurias do ladrão a quem promete a vida eterna. E no termo da historia – nos recorda o Apocalipse – Deus mesmo intervirá ‘para enxugar as lágrimas de nossos olhos e então a morte já não existirá, nem haverá mais luto nem pranto, nem fadiga, porque tudo isso já passou’ (cf. Apoc 21, 4)...
Ante a incompreensão e até a distorção de suas convicções mais caras, esforça-se por manter o dialogo, buscando compreender, acolher e perdoar o próximo. Essa atitude inclui a todos, abraça o outro por ele mesmo e não apenas por causa da suas qualidade. Procura acolhê-los e apoiá-los até quando ele comete equívocos e erros...
Perdoar significa impedir que ele fique refém das conseqüências dos atos ofensivos que perpetrou. Perdoar implica a capacidade de suportar e de manter o laço da comunhão mesmo quando o outro lado se fecha...”
October 15, 2023
Gostei bastante das reflexões sobre paz, dos primeiros capítulos, e dos esclarecimentos sobre a origem da chamada Oração de São Francisco.
Como todas as grandes orações, tem tanto a nos ensinar e promove tantas inúmeras meditações que é impossível tratar nas páginas de um único livro.
Neste livro temos insights maravilhosos, que nos comovem a transformar a emoção que a linda prece causa em efetivas ações.
🕊️🕊️🕊️🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Como todas as grandes orações, tem tanto a nos ensinar e promove tantas inúmeras meditações que é impossível tratar nas páginas de um único livro.
Neste livro temos insights maravilhosos, que nos comovem a transformar a emoção que a linda prece causa em efetivas ações.
🕊️🕊️🕊️🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
November 30, 2019
Excellent short reflection on the Prayer of Saint Francis. I particularly appreciated the second chapter analysis on the roots of the lack of peace. Boff’s use of Girardian mimetic desire is insightful. The pivot to a juxtaposition of Eros and Thanatos summarizes well Greek thought on the human condition. Peace as tranquility of order certainly eludes us today. I found the definition of peace as equilibrium of movement fascinating. Boff translates the insights of Paul VI for a new generation. There is existential wisdom in gauging the dynamic social forces today and meeting these with the spirit of the Beatitudes. I was particularly struck by this thought“As we confront the ambiguities of a reality in which the diabolic always goes along with the symbolic, the spirit of the beatitudes enables us to believe in the victory of the symbolic. The diseased portion of the human being ca be healed by the sound part.” I agree that the Letter to a Minister of the Friars Minor should be regarded as an instance of the highest spirituality in the Western tradition and should be taught in Catholic schools. We, as Francis, must dismantle the mechanisms that generate the culture of violence.
March 30, 2010
This is one of those hippy-trippy Jesus books that I find incredibly tedious. There were a few good quotes, but over all I'm not into the whole Cosmic Muffin thing. Boff is a liberation theologian from Brazil (I think) who needs to put the bong down and go study some Latin.
There are way better books out there about St. Francis. Alan Paxton's "An Instrument of Thy Peace" was actually inspirational and memorable. Boff's book was the theological equivalent of a tie-dye shirt and some patchouli oil. Thanks, but no thanks.
There are way better books out there about St. Francis. Alan Paxton's "An Instrument of Thy Peace" was actually inspirational and memorable. Boff's book was the theological equivalent of a tie-dye shirt and some patchouli oil. Thanks, but no thanks.
September 1, 2013
A good vehicle for coming up with a social justice framework for praying the prayer of St. Francis. This is its strongest value, as so often prayer tends to remain in the clouds of spiritual piety. Boff makes the prayer of St. Francis socially meaningful. But the writing and structure of the book is sometimes obtuse and often choppy. You'll get a new way of approaching this prayer, but not much more than that. But that new approach is worth the read, even though it can be a bit tedious.
June 15, 2016
this is a good mix of theology, philosophy and good will. the result is a way of living.
January 6, 2018
A wonderful book to use for a study group. Filled with great worldly examples and scriptures to help us understand the verses of The Prayer of Saint Francis. The book guides the reader to understand their purpose in life and that life is more than about self but the world community at large.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews