Angela and FrancisApril 27, 2026

Angela and Francis

Making Peace through Reconciliation

TWENTY-TWENTY SIX is a time in need of reconciliation and peace making. It is a year of violence both personal and international. There are so many stories reflecting the pain and suffering caused by the violence in our world that I frequently hear it said that people don’t watch the news anymore. The news does reflect the unrest, violence and mean spirit we face in our world. Though the newscasters often warn us that the subject matter may be disturbing, the stations continue to broadcast all the “difficult to watch”, the disturbing news.

During these past weeks of Lent, as we traveled the way of the Cross-with Christ and prayed with Jesus on the way to torture and death, I felt the call to pray the news of these days accompanying those suffering the ravages of war, and gun violence, and dehumanization. The prayers especially those of Holy Week were shockingly similar to the descriptions of the of life today. So let us seek words that lead to peace and reconciliation and remember too that hope is the antidote we are called to bring into the world.

As a Third Order Franciscan, Angela learned steps toward reconciliation from the man of peace, St. Francis. Angela saw the destruction of war and the pain of violence all around her. She was initially sent by the Frnaciscans to Brescia to accompany in gried, Caterina Patengola who had lost her husband and sons to the war. Angela felt keenly the need for peace and with Francis, prayed to be God’s channel of peace for the world. These days of Francis and Angela, the world around them were not so unlike our own. Italy was overrun by invasions, wars, and injustice. Francis’ prayer is one that can lead us to finding ways to overcome the evil and suffering by sowing seeds of love and peace and reconciliation. Let us pray this prayer with Angela, asking for the grace to be the change we want to see in the world. Perhaps, watching the news through the lens of this prayer will be salvific for out world as well.

PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Lord, make me a channel 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,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Sister Mary Ellen Brinovec