God of mercy and compassion, 🎼
Look with pity upon me.
Father, let me call Thee Father,
’Tis Thy child returns to Thee.

Refrain:
Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy;
Let me not implore in vain;
All my sins I now detest them,
Never will I sin again.

By my sins I have deserved
Death and endless misery;
Hell, with all its pains and torments,
And for all eternity.

By my sins I have abandoned
Right and claim to Heav’n above,
Where the saints rejoice forever,
In a boundless sea of love.

See our Savior, bleeding, dying,
On the cross of Calvary;
To that cross my sins have nailed Him,
Yet He bleeds and dies for me.

Come back to me with all your heart. 🎼

Don't let fear keep us apart.

Trees do bend, 'though straight and tall;

so must we to others' call.

Long have I waited for your coming home to me

and living deeply our new life.

The wilderness will lead you

to your heart where I will speak.

Integrity and justice,

With tenderness, you shall know.

Long have I waited for your coming home to me

and living deeply our new life.

You shall sleep secure with peace;

faithfulness will be your joy.

Long have I waited for your coming home to me
and living deeply our new life.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross 🎼
The emblem of suff'ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,

For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;

Then He'll call me someday to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I'll share.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it someday for a crown

Saint Francis, our brother,
you who eight hundred years ago
went to meet Sister Death as a man at peace,
intercede for us with the Lord.

In the Crucifix of San Damiano
you recognized true peace,
teach us to seek in Him
the source of all reconciliation
that breaks down every wall.

You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of
war and misunderstanding,
give us the courage to build bridges
where the world erects borders,

In this time plagued by conflict and division,
intercede so that we may become peacemakers:
unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace
that comes from Christ. Amen.