Prayer of St. Francis - Verse 10

“To be loved, as to love;” 

This week we focus on the 10th verse of the St. Francis Prayer, where we continue our efforts of being an instrument in the hands of God. At the last supper, after washing His disciple’s feet, Christ said to them to “love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:34). Christ never said, “I will love you only if you love me first.” He conveyed to us that “we love because he (God) first loved us…This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:19 & 21).

Too often, we fall into the expectation that is the norm in our world today: “If you do for me, I’ll do for you.” Yet, God is calling us to initiate love to those around us and never count the cost. Christ gave all of himself to us and died for us even though we did nothing to deserve it. He paid a debt that he did not owe, for a debt we owed and could not pay. So in this verse of the prayer, we are petitioning God to help us in loving others without seeking for love in return. True love seeks the good of the other for the sake of the other.

Image if both spouses went into marriage striving for this type of love. For this kind of love, we have only to look to the Holy Family who lived out pure Godly love throughout their life together. Christ was central to their family unity and their marital affection. They gave all of themselves and thus exampled God’s love for his bride, the Church. But do we also seek it and do we labor for it every day? Through the grace of God, this type of love can be accomplished in our own marriage. We need only ask Christ every day for the strength to “love as he first loved us.”   

ACTION STEP: This week, ask Christ every day to have the strength to love as he first loved us.