Today is Friday, but I’m feeling like Monday. Pray for me : )
I noticed that ![]()
Maybe it’s the Ember day fasting?
The Prayer of St. Francis de Sales
Be at peace.
Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;
rather look to them with full hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.
He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely through all things;
and when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in his arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
the same everlasting Father who cares for you today
will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering, or give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.
As a writer and editor, I consider Francis de Sales one of my patrons. But this quotation doesn’t sound like a prayer. I’d say it is addressed to people, not to God.
Fair point. Maybe he was preaching it from his own experience with a hot temper.
Literalman, you’re right about the source. That passage is from one of de Sales’ letters, written as counsel to a directee rather than addressed to God. But I’d gently argue that’s exactly what makes it prayable. He isn’t composing a liturgy there; he’s doing what he did all through the Introduction, teaching a soul to speak to God in ordinary words. Take “Be at peace” and mean it toward God and it becomes an aspiration, and the tradition has always counted those as prayer. Augustine put it plainly: our desire itself is prayer.
Cade_One, for the Friday that thinks it’s Monday: “Lord, be my patience today.” Short enough to actually pray. : )