Episode notes
Inspired by the timeless words of Saint Francis of Assisi, I offer this song as a musical healing balm in the earthly loss of Pope Francis. May his radiant example of kindness, compassion and true leadership continue lighting our way through the volatility of our times.
Yesterday was my Aunt Bernice's last earthly day of life. She was 95 years young; a beautiful artist and the matriarch of our family. A lifelong Catholic believer, Bernice was blessed in her last hours to receive the Pope's Easter Blessing through the mass on her hospital room TV. The poignant, sacred timing holds my heart in awe.
May we honor the Christ-ness of Pope Francis by embodying his Easter blessing's words of peace, freedom and compassion. May we live in utter gratefulness as instruments of God's peace.
I Am Thy instrument of peace
Where there is hatred, I sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there’s despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness, Joy
O Divine may I not so much seek
To be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
To be love, to be Love
For it is in giving we receive
It’s in pardoning we are pardoned
And it is in dying we are born
to eternal, eternal
Life
adapted from the Prayer of St. Francis
copyright © 2024 by Colleen Akiko