©2024 Victor R. Claveau, MJ
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt. 5:9).
One of the greatest peacemakers of Christian history was Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (c. 1181 –1226), more commonly known as Saint Francis of Assisi.
There was a time when Bishop Guido II of Assisi excommunicated the town mayor on the pope’s orders because the mayor supported another war with Perugia. In response, the mayor proclaimed that no one could sell to or buy anything from the bishop or have legal dealings with him.
Louis Vitale, OFM, (1932 –2023), an American Franciscan friar, and peace activist writes:
This was not just a misunderstanding or an argument between the bishop and the mayor. There was serious structural violence involving the nobility, the new merchant class, the city, and the Church…. In the case of thirteenth-century Assisi, this struggle turned on the question of who would be in control—the powerful factions in the city or the people allied with the pope?
Both the mayor and the bishop held Saint Francis in the highest esteem. Francis used a subtle nonviolent approach to facilitate a reconciliation between the two men. He sent one of his brothers to invite the mayor to go to the bishop’s palace, and another to prepare the bishop. Francis did not go but remained in prayer. When all were assembled at the bishop’s home, the two friars arose, and one of them spoke: “Blessed Francis asks you to listen to the Praise of the Lord by All His Creatures.” The brothers sang a canticle with its message of peace to the mayor and the bishop, which included the new verse: ‘Praised be my Lord for those who for Thy love forgive and weakness bear and tribulation.’ Happy those who endure in peace, by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
The governor arose, and with joined hands, listened intently, for he had great devotion to Saint Francis. When the friars finished singing, the governor announced to all: “Verily I say to you, that not only the Lord Bishop, whom I desire and am bound to hold as my Lord, but had anyone slain my kinsman, or my son, him also would I forgive.”
With this he fell at the bishop’s feet saying: “Behold I am ready to make you any satisfaction that it may please you to demand for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and his servant, Blessed Francis.”
The bishop took him by the hand, raised him up and exclaimed: “By the virtue of my office it is fitting I should be humble, but as by nature I am prone to anger, I pray you to pardon me.”
Then with much kindness and love they embraced and kissed each other. All the people praised God who had restored peace and harmony through the efforts of Blessed Francis. [1]
Again, and again Saint Francis brought about peace and understanding between individuals, groups, and cities. He was a true peacemaker. And because he was so effective in bringing about peace, you might be interested in hearing and learning and using a little prayer for peace attributed to that peace-loving Poverello.
Before providing this prayer, I would like to quote what Arnold Lunn, brilliant convert to Catholicism, wrote about this prayer in his book, Within That City, written in 1936; some time after his conversion:
“It would, for instance, be difficult to better a Prayer of Saint Francis, which seems to me equally perfect as an expression of the Franciscan ideal and as a balanced and harmonious passage of liturgical prose” (p. 139).
Here is the prayer of Saint Francis, a prayer he did not write, but certainly is the way he prayed and lived:
Lord, make me an instrument of Your 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 again to eternal life.
The world today, as in the past, is overgrown with the weeds of war, with the weeds of hate and injury and doubt, despair, darkness, and sadness.
The just war theory is a Catholic doctrine, also referred to as a code of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of rigid criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. “The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting grave and certain.
- All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
- There must be serious prospects of success;
- The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
“These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the “just war” doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church §2309).
What will history say about your presidency? Will you be known as a man who did everything within his power to seek peace and reconciliation with those who threaten our homeland and world peace?
It is for you and for me, like Saint Francis, to sow again and again the seeds of love and pardon and faith and hope and light and joy.
When all is said and done, let history record that President Donald J. Trump was a disciple of Saint Francis and a true man of peace; a President who chose peace through strength and always let war be the last resort.
[1] Adapted from Louie Vitale, Love Is What Matters: Writings on Peace and Nonviolence (Pace e Bene Press: 2015), 41-42, 43.