University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., joined other local clergy, elected officials and community leaders at the annual interdenominational Prayer for Peace today at the Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza in downtown South Bend.
After speaking of the suffering and isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pain and injustice endured by Black members of the South Bend community and beyond, Father Jenkins offered a portion of a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
We pray this and ask for God’s blessings for our South Bend community, in Christ’s name, amen.