Prayer for Forgiveness

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace, as Saint Francis of Assisi so often prayed — but before I can carry peace to others, let me first ask for it within my own heart. I hold a wound I have not yet let go of, a hurt I keep returning to instead of releasing into Your mercy. Where there is injury in me, let me sow pardon, as Francis taught; where there is a grudge, let me choose forgiveness, not because the wrong did not matter, but because I no longer wish to carry it. And Lord, for whatever I myself have done to wound another, grant me the humility to seek their forgiveness, and the certainty of Your own mercy, which forgives far more readily than I deserve. Amen.