10/19/13- Prayers of the late Medieval Ages

A Month in Prayer

Praying the Prayers of the Church throughout the Ages

               October 19

Francis of Assisi (1181/3-1226)

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. Amen

Francis of Assisi (1181/3-1226) was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. Though he was never ordained to the priesthood, he is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.  He founded several monastic orders dedicated to living in poverty. Francis was born into a wealthy family in Assisi and became a soldier. But after a vision he turned his back on all this and embraced a life of devotion to God and poverty. He is (along with Catherine of Sienna) one of two Catholic patron saints of Italy.  Francis had a love of animals and is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. Often Roman Catholic and Episcopalian churches have ceremonies to bless animals on his feast day, October 4.  Additionally Francis is credited with creating the first Christmas creche also known as a nativity or manger scene.

Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380)

Lord,
take me from myself
and give me to yourself. 

Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) is one of the two patron Roman Catholic saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi. She was a nun, a spiritual writer, and a theologian. In addition she worked among both the poor and the powerful. She cared for the impoverished but also worked among the leaders of Italy’s cities for peace. She had an extensive correspondence with the pope and other church leaders and advocated for the reform of the clergy.  It was extraordinary for a woman at that time to have so much political influence. In 1970, Pope Paul VI awarded both Catherine and Teresa of Avila the title of Doctor of the Church. They were the first women to receive this honor. Catherine died at the age of thirty-three, probably due to the extreme fasting she practiced. The house where she grew up is still in existence.

Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know,
To love what I ought to love,
To praise what delights thee most,
To value what is precious in thy sight,
To hate what is offensive to thee.
Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes,
Nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men;
But to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual,
And above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of thy will.

Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) was a monk from Germany. Thomas’ life was a quiet one filled with devotional exercises, writing, and copying. Copying manuscripts was the way books were created before the invention of the printing press. A Kempis copied the Bible no fewer than four times, one of the copies being preserved and is in five volumes.