Today is All Saints' Day (also called All Hallows) celebrated on November 1st each year. In the Catholic tradition, it honors all the Saints, but especially those who are not recognized on other days of the calendar year. With the New Testament meaning, saints include all Christian people of every time and place. Although, not a Catholic, I join in honoring all those devoted Saints who brought the Light into the darkness, and with gratitude, remember St. Francis, Patron Saint of Animals.
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there is despair, let me sow hope.
Where there is darkness, let me sow light.
Where there is sadness, let me sow 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 the pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
--St. Francis of Assisi
