On page 682 of the Book of Alternative Services the following, “A Prayer of Christian Life”, can be found:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love:
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there sadness, joy.
Grant that we 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.
This prayer is often attributed to Francis of Assisi, and although it sums up his ministry beautifully, he did not write it, but it certainly is the way he prayed and lived and taught by example. As Fr. Murray Bodo so beautifully puts it in his book “ Surrounded by Love” :”It is a prayer that outlines everything that made Francis the peacemaker that he was and the model for peace that he is for us today. It is a prayer that shows us how to find the truth again, if we’ve lost it, or to continue living in the truth we’ve already found and are trying to live.”
In January of 2018 Pope Francis issued a statement and a new prayer he wrote for World Communications Day celebrated on May 13, 2018.The statement and prayer have to do with false information based on non-existent or distorted data meant to deceive and manipulate the reader. He said the effectiveness of fake news is due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem believable. He said the false but believable news gets peoples attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting common emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger, and frustration. Untrue stories can spread so quickly that even authoritative denials don’t stop the damage. Pope Francis noted that the tragedy of disinformation is that it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and creating conflict. He said that fake news is a sign of intolerance and leads to the spread of arrogance and hatred.
According to Pope Francis, the antidote is not some new technique of discernment but people: “people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language.”
To that end, Pope Francis gives us his new prayer that draws on the Peace Prayer of St. Francis:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Help us to recognize the evil latent in a communication
that does not build communion.
Help us to remove the venom from our judgements.
Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters.
You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of
Goodness for the world:
where there is shouting, let us practice listening;
where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony;
where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;
where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;
where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;
where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;
where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;
where there is hostility, let us bring respect;
where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.
Amen.
-Pope Francis
