Do you ever wish that your life was more peaceful? I sure do! But it’s not so much that I want my surroundings to be more peaceful. What I really want to feel more at peace on the inside… in my soul. To that end, I started off the New Year by reading Father Jacques Philippe’s little book, Searching for and Maintaining Peace.

Father Philippe’s treatise on finding “peace of heart” has effectively launched my quest for peace by explaining the basics and including what the saints have said about it. According to this holy priest, inner peace is founded on 1) humble acceptance of God’s will, 2) confidence that God can and will bring a greater good out of any evil that he allows, and 3) belief in God’s loving, benevolent intentions toward us, His children. While this path toward peace makes complete sense to me, I struggle to follow it. Stuff happens, you know? Strained relationships, troublesome technology, painful health issues, moral decline in society, unrest in the world and in the Church… All of it gets under my skin and burrows its way into my heart, causing me to worry and lose my peace. If only I could be consistently humble with unshakable confidence and never question God’s intentions, His love, or His mercy!

Thank goodness that Father Philippe stated in his book that the Holy Spirit will help us if we ask…and so I am asking! My theme… my prayer for this year is: Lord, help us to keep in our hearts the peace that passes all understanding, the peace that only Jesus gives.

Our pastor calls us “saints-in-the-making,” but I obviously have a long way to go. If a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step, though, reading Fr. Philippe’s book is a worthy first step on the pathway to peace. If you are like me and long for an untroubled soul.. no matter what else is happening around you… this book provides the framework on which to build a peaceful life in Christ. In the weeks to come, let’s continue to add flowers of faith to our trellis as the Holy Spirit gives the growth.

^“These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14: 25-27 Revised Standard Version- Second Catholic Edition)

What’s next? I’m glad you asked! I found on my bookshelf a gem of a book that I’ve never read, entitled Thirsting for God: A Yearbook of Prayers, Meditations, & Anecdotes of Mother Teresa, compiled by Angelo D. Scolozzi, M.C.III.O. I’ll tell you all about it next Saturday.