Franciscan Prayer for the Spirit of Penance

O seraphic father, St. Francis,
I venerate in you the living image of Christ crucified.
Your love transformed your whole life
into one long martyrdom.
It made you strive by means of severe penances
to satisfy the ardor of your desires,
until at last it impressed on your body
the wounds it had long before engraved deeply in your heart.
It thus made you a living crucifix,
preaching sweetly to all people the sufferings and love of Jesus.

Obtain for me, O holy father,
that I too may banish from my heart the spirit of the world;
that I may esteem poverty and humiliation
above wealth and honor;
that I may mortify my passions and advance daily
in the knowledge and love of God,
until at last, detached from myself,
from the world and from all creatures,
I may live for God alone,
and like you say with my whole heart,
"My God and my all,"
my God, my inheritance and my joy in time and eternity.

Amen.

(Secular Franciscan Companion, Franciscan Press, 1998)