This week we kick off in earnest a series called “Durable Prayers” — contemplating the prayers of desert fathers and historic leaders in the Christian faith. These are prayers that shaped the faith of those who first prayed them, and that have shaped generations of Christ-followers since.
Today we begin with the prayer of St Francis, which … spoiler alert! … wasn’t written by him, though it is certainly representative of his spirituality. We’ll look also at other prayer’s written by Francis, examining not only the prayers but the spirituality beneath them. Winfield Bevins is our guide, author of a soon-to-be-released book on the prayers of St. Francis, is our guide for this conversation. Here’s a Franciscan Prayer of Detachment that captures my attention:
I pray you that the fiery and honey-sweet
power of your love may detach my soul
from everything under heaven,
so that I may die for love of your love,
who out of love for your people
did die on the tree of the cross. Amen.
