Ralph L. Woods (1904–1989)

The author has gone to the monumental trouble of finding, sorting and presenting poems that are "unmistakeably prayers--poems wherein the minds and hearts are lifted in conversation with God..."[7]

This is damning. That divine ear so deeply and dearly hoped-for on the other side of all of these ardent words has been consistent: If not entirely absent, deaf. And indifferent to a criminal degree.

We treasure, of course, the beautiful selected sentiments. St. Francis of Assisi's Prayer for Peace is included, but not his prayer for rejection -- the one in which he prays the Lord send him to Hell if his faith is based on desire for vengeance, riches, or any other motive than what is consistent with his own life on earth expressed in modesty, privation, service and gratitude. The author provides a brief biography of the providers.

FOR PEACE

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace.
Where there is hate, may I bring love;
Where offense, may I bring pardon;
May I bring union in place of discord;
Truth, replacing error;
Faith, where once there was doubt;
Hope, for despair;
Light, where was darkness;
Joy to replace sadness.
Make me not to so crave to be loved as to love.
Help me to learn that in giving I may receive;
In forgetting self, I may find life eternal.

This prayer is a complete vindication of the Liberals in the Church.
It is a great testament that Catholics now turn to a Jesuit Pope, and he is leading the Church away from the nasty contemnors of the politicized past.… (more)