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Prayers
Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the
Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes
there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during
the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so
I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But
I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why,
when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have
seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”
Mary Stevenson, 1936
 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.
st. francis
of assisi - 13th century
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