May You Have Discomfort

Praying that we will be uncomfortable.

Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash

Sometimes you come across a prayer that just hits different. During this Advent season, we take time to remember the hope, peace, love, and joy that the arrival of Jesus brought/brings to his creation. We know that many experience the warm fuzzies during the Christmas season, but we also know that many grieve and experience difficulty during this season. There are many prayers that we might offer that would be appropriate for different experiences and situations.

But I feel like this prayer is one that Christians in general should pray for ourselves and other followers of Jesus much more often than we do. To pray that we might experience discomfort might sound harsh, but when it’s a holy discontent we’re asking for, it’s a prayer we can pray along with all the saints of the Christian faith.

Where I live, we’re very comfortable. It’s a well-to-do county in Pennsylvania where many people have the money to avoid as much discomfort as possible. Avoiding discomfort is a prime idol for our society not just in our county, but across much of the developed world. It’s an idol that we Christians must not fall for. We cannot be duped into thinking that comfort is necessary or even deserved. The pursuit of comfort, whether physical, emotional, or financial, might lead us to comfort in the here and now but ultimately leads away from the Kingdom. It’s not that experiencing various kinds of comfort is wrong, it’s just not what we are owed or guaranteed in this life. Our pursuit should not be for comfort, but rather to be more like Jesus. And his life was anything but comfortable.

This prayer is most often referred to as the “The Franciscan Prayer of Discomfort”, so that is how I’ll refer to it below. But it can also be called the “Four-Fold Benedictine Blessing” but from what I have been able to find it was originally called “A Non-traditional Blessing” and was written by a Benedictine nun named Sister Ruth Marlene Fox in 1985.

May we all have the discomfort of our Savior: a discomfort with the way things are, to not be okay with the status quo, and to fight for the justice, mercy, and peace of our God here on earth like it is in heaven.

The Franciscan Prayer of Discomfort

MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.
Amen