Prayers We Should All Live By

The Prayer of Saint Frances Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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;

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;

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Amen

Good Will (Sutta Nipata - the Buddha)

May all beings be filled with joy and peace.

May all beings everywhere,

The strong and the weak,

The great and the small,

The mean and the powerful,

The short and the long,

The subtle and the gross:

May all beings everywhere,

Seen and unseen,

Dwelling far off or nearby,

Being or waiting to become:

May all be filled with lasting joy.

Let no one deceive another.

Let no one anywhere despise another. 

Let no one, out of anger or resentment,

Wish suffering on anyone at all.

Just as a mother with her own life 

Protects her child, her only child, from harm,

So within yourself let grow

A boundless love for all creatures.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,

To its height, its depth, its broad extent,

A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.

Then, as you stand or walk,

Sit or lie down,

As long as you are awake,

Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;

Your life will bring heaven to earth.