Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Inclusion

By: British artist Tony O’Connell

O’Connell titled his work “Lord, make me an instrument of your inclusion” in honor of the late Franciscan friar Pat Groves, who wrote the line when he adapted the famous peace prayer that is often attributed to Francis.  The standard version begins, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

Groves changed it to “Lord, make me an instrument of your inclusion” in the “Rainbow Prayer of Saint Francis,” which he posted on the Pride page of his website. Evidence suggests that Francis did not actually write the peace prayer himself. It first appeared anonymously in a small French Catholic magazine in 1912.  The rainbow version includes these lines:

Where there is bigotry,

let me sow understanding….

Grant that I may not

so much deny who I am

as affirm and empower myself;

not so much question my sexuality

as be challenged by it;

not so much be content with my orientation

as to become enlivened by it.

For it is in coming-out

that we become ourselves …