Monday, September 10, 2007

Six Years Later

Lord
Take me where you want me to go,
Let me meet who you want me to meet
Tell me what you want me to say, and keep me out of your way.
-Fr.Mychal Judge, FDNY Chaplain





Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

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;
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.


4 comments:

+JN1034 said...

What a glorious tribute to Fr Mychal. I witness 9-11 just north of Ground Zero. Two days later I drove into through Ground Zero because my eyes had to witness the devastation first-hand (TV was too surreal). I cannot begin to explain what I saw since everything was coated in ash and dust. My car was coated and for months after. I refused to wash the ashes and dust off my car ... because I knew ... oh God I knew ... what was on my car included the remains of the dead. A car wash would've been highly inappropriate. The rains washed them away, but my tears haven't ended. What a beautiful holy icon of St Francis and Fr Mychal watching over those of us in NYC. Thank you, Eric, this means a lot to those of us who traumatized and lost loved ones and survived by God's grace and mercy. Thank you for remembering and making time to post this for our national healing. God bless you always. +++

+JN1034 said...

Prayer of St Francis

Mychals Prayer said...

Most of us first heard of Father Mychal Judge, the late New York fire chaplain and "saint of 9/11", from that iconic photo of his body being carried from Ground Zero.

Yet even prior to his heroic death on 9/11, Father Mychal was widely seen by many New Yorkers as a living saint for his deep spirituality and his extraordinary work with the homeless, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and others rejected by society -- as wellas his beloved firefighters.

Father Mychal was also openly gay, though celibate. He blessed and supported committed gay relationships asking, “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love ?”

This often annoyed the church hierarchy. But like his spiritual father St. Francis of Assisi, Mychal reported directly to a Higher Authority, as evidenced by several miraculous healings through him.

For further information on Father Mychal, I invite you to visit:
http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. Thank you.

I visited the site at blogspot that mychals prayer linked to (but had to type it in, the link didn't work for me). What a beautiful memorial that is.

Thank you for including St. Francis's prayer.

You remind us of the need to practice forgiveness and love in these war-full times.