Thus begins the beloved prayer of the Italian friar Saint Francis of Assisi, which well expresses his sentiments as a preacher of peace, love, and unity. Author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton drew upon the Prayer of Saint Francis to write Instrument of Peace (originally titled Instrument of Thy Peace) while his wife Dorrie lay dying of emphysema. Among many others, Paton said he wrote this book for those who wish with all their hearts to be better, purer, less selfish, more useful; who do not wish to be cold in love, and who know that being cold in love is perhaps the worst sin of them all; who wish to keep their faith bright and burning in a dark and faithless world; and who seek not so much to lean on God as to be the active instrument of His peace.
"Sometimes we cannot pray because we are fallen into a melancholy and therefore have for the time lost our hope and our faith and have no one to pray to," Paton wrote. "I am in unrepayable debt to Francis of Assisi, for when I pray his prayer, or even remember it, my melancholy is dispelled, my self-pity comes to an end, my faith is restored, because of this majestic conception of what the work of a disciple should be."
