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"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!"
-- Rudyard Kipling
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ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
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"Now I will show you the way which surpasses
all the others.
If I speak with human tongue and angelic
as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy
gong, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift
of prophecy and, with full knowledge,
comprehend all mysteries, if I have faith
great enough to move mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing. If I give everything
I have to feed the poor and hand over my
body to be burned, but have not love, I
gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not
jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not
snobbish. Love is never rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not prone to anger;
neither does it brood over injuries. Love
does not rejoice in what is wrong but
rejoices with the truth. There is no limit
to love's forbearance, to its trust, its hope,
its power to endure.
Love never fails. Prophecies will cease,
tongues will be silent, knowledge will
pass away. Our knowledge is imperfect
and our prophesying is imperfect. When
the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass
away. When I was a child I used to talk
like a child, think like a child, reason like
a child. When I became man I put childish
ways aside. Now we see indistinctly, as in
a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
My knowledge is imperfect now; then I
shall know even as I am known. There are
in the end three things that last; faith, hope,
and love, and the greatest of these is love."
-- 1 Corinthians 13, 1-13
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
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ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost
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Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than
yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann
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The Canticle of the Creatures
by St. Francis of Assisi
Most High, All-powerful, All-Good, Lord!
All praise is Yours,
all glory, all honor
And all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy
To pronounce your name.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through all that You have
made,
And first my lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!
Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and
Stars;
In the heavens You have made them, bright
And precious and fair.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and
Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather's moods,
By which You cherish all that You have made.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly,
precious, and pure.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
Through whom You brighten up the night.
How beautiful he is, how gay!
Full of power and strength.
All praise be Yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our
mother,
Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits and colored flowers and herbs.
All praise be Yours, my Lord,
through those who grant pardon
For love of You;
through those who endure
Sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,
By You, Most High,
they will be crowned.
All praise be Yours, my Lord,
through Sister Death-of-the-Body,
From whose embrace
no mortal can escape.
Woe to those who die
in mortal sin,
Happy those She finds
doing Your holy will!
The second death can do
no harm to them.
Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.
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