Catholic writer Danielle Bean has this funny prayer up today on her blog.
A MOTHER’S PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS (STOMACH FLU VERSION)
Lord,
Make me an instrument of Your healing love;
Where there is vomit let me bring Lysol;
Where there are boogers, Kleenex;
Where there is fever, Tylenol;
Where there is boredom, library books;
Where there are chills, warm blankets;
And where there is whininess, Scooby Doo.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be well-rested as to provide clean sheets,
To be appreciated as to disinfect the house,
To be showered as to give warm baths,
For it is in scrubbing out the bathroom that we are cleansed,
It is in sharing laps that we find comfort,
And it is after resting that we will return
To a normal life.
4 comments
That’s a really lovely prayer…better than the original one allegedly composed by St. Francis Assisi.
It goes to the heart of the mundane, the concrete and personal. To the place where Christ dwells.
Janusz Korshak, the “King of Children”, and eminent Polish-Jewish teacher and doctor wrote that, “one does not leave a sick child in the middle of the night.” He was caring for orphans; not his own children…but the commandment remains the same.
I actually get a perverse sense of joy when I tell people that the ‘Prayer of St. Francis’ wasn’t written by St. Francis.
John… I get a kick out of telling animal rights activists that St. Francis told the chattering birds to “SHUT UP” when he was preaching the Gospel. I get mildly annoyed when he’s characterized as Dr. Doolittle. St. Francis taught of the beauty of creation as authored and ordered by God to a world coming out of paganism.
How about “Grant that I may not sleep.” Staying up with crying babies is how I started saying the rosary… but at that time in the morning, I use to say 39 Hail Marys before I realized it was time to move on to an Our Father. 🙂