On the Feast Day of St. Francis

St. Francis in a garden in Austin, Texas

When you place a statue in a garden, it becomes a focal point, and the garden becomes the stage on which it rests.

When you place a statue of St. Francis of Assisi in a garden, it becomes a place for contemplation, a place for quiet reflection.

Today, on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, we are reminded of his prayer...

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;
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.