Peace – Oct. 6, 1998
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
Driving over to Casco to see Fr. Tom, the weather was pretty stormy – lots of rain, sometimes in torrents, and grey mist over the landscape. Throughout the trip this verse repeated itself in my mind – at other points in time I would have been anxious and white-knuckled driving in difficult weather, but the Lord has been granting me a beautiful peace that has been spreading to more and more areas of my life. It allows me to maintain a calm center in the midst of various trials, most of them minor, a few more dramatic. Entering the church evoked another dimension of peace – a holy peace. The church was warm and inviting, softly lit, quiet – empty of human activity – but filled with a perceptible Presence of God. Fr.Tom would be coming over from the school in a moment, so I took the opportunity to light a vigil candle – the rows of candles were set in front of a beautiful statue of Jesus Who gazes down on those who kneel before Him. His left hand is touching His Sacred Heart, exposed on His chest, and His right hand is raised in blessing. The tunic that He wears is a warm red and gentle green – although painted, it seems like fabric – I could almost feel the softness of the material. I lit the candle and knelt before my Lord – although the air in the church was still, the candles were flickering – except for the one I had just lit. It burned steadily, not wavering at all, amidst the other dancing flames. My heart felt like that – at peace and rest in the Lord. A quote I had recently read stated, “Acquire interior peace, and many will find salvation near you,” attributed to St. Seraphim. That has been my prayer of late; to stay centered in the Lord and remain in His perfect peace. My desire is to serve Him and to draw others to Him – perhaps my best witness is this beautiful peace.
Elizabeth Eliot -”Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all. In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by You.”
Mother Teresa – “The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.”
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity – O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so to establish myself in You, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.”
2 Thess 3:16 – “May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.”
John 14:27- “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: “I leave you peace, my peace I give to you.” Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live forever and ever. Amen.
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Isaiah 32:18 – “My people will live in peaceful country, in secure dwellings and quiet resting places.”
“There is a way to peace, peace itself being the way.” A. J. Muste (1885-1967) Saints Book
Teresa of Avila bookmark in her breviary – “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All is fleeting. God alone is unchanging. Patience obtains everything. The one who possesses God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.”
“Have no fear for what tomorrow may bring. The same loving God who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. God will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.” St. Francis de Sales
June 22 – St. Thomas More in a letter to his daughter before being beheaded ~ “Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.”
July 23 – from GOD CALLING ~ “My children, that Peace does truly pass all understanding. That peace no man taketh from you. No man has the power to disturb that Peace, but you yourselves can let the world and its worries and distraction in.
You can give the entrance to fears and despondency. You can open the door to the robber who breaks in upon, and destroys, your peace.
Set yourselves this task to allow nothing to disturb your peace, your heart calm, with Me. Stop all work, stop all intercourse with others – until this is restored. Do not let those about you spoil your peace of heart and mind. Do not let anyone without, any trouble, any irritation, any adversity, disturb it for one moment.
Look on each difficulty as training to enable you to acquire that peace. Every work, every interruption – set yourself to see that none of it troubles the harmony of the real you, that is hid with me in the Secret Place of the Father.
Exodus 14:14 – “The Lord himself will fight for you; you only have only to keep still.”
Isaiah 32:17- “And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”
from BEHOLD HE COMES by Fr. Benedict Groeschel – Jan 4 – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton trans. of A TREATISE OF INTERIOR PEACE by Fr. Ambrose de Lombez ~
“The love of God produces submission of our will to all the orders of his providence; and our submission preserves us in a holy tranquility amidst the most painful reverses, and an admirable equilibrium of mind through the greatest agitations and most cruel vicissitudes of life.”
Isaiah 30:15 -”For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: by waiting and by calm you will be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies…”
One Bread One Body 1/17/02 – Fr. Al – “Don’t just do something; sit there.”
Indira Ghandi – “You must learn to be still in the midst of activity, and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”
John Greenleaf Whittier – ”drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.”
Sufi prayer – from Bp. Morneau retreat 7/02
O Divine One, to thee I raise my whole being,
a vessel emptied of self,
Accept, O gracious God, this my emptiness,
so to fill me with thyself, – thy light, thy love, thy life, (thy laughter)
that these thy precious gifts might radiate through me
and overflow the chalice of my heart
into the hearts of all those with whom I come in contact this day
thus revealing unto them the beauty of thy joy and wholeness and the serenity of thy
peace
which nothing can destroy…… Amen
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”
Julien of Norwich
Refrain from “How Can I Keep From Singing”
No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing?
Quaker hymn attr. to Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Father Jacques Philippe (French priest, member of the Beatitudes Community)
quoted in Magnificat Vol 17, No 3, May 2015 p..67-68
WHAT THE ADVOCATE WILL DO
Often we cause ourselves to become agitated and disturbed by trying to resolve everything by ourselves, when it would be more efficacious to remain peacefully before the gaze of God and to allow him to act and to work in us with his wisdom and power, which are infinitely superior to ours…
One of the dominant aspects of spiritual combat is the struggle on the plane of thoughts. To struggle often means opposition between those thoughts that originate in our own spirit, or the mentality of our surroundings or even sometimes from the enemy himself (the origin of the thoughts is of little importance) and which cause us disquietude, fear, discouragement and, on the other hand, those thoughts that could comfort us and reestablish our peace. In view of this combat, happy is the man who has filled his quiver (Ps 127) with arrows of good thoughts, that is to say, with solid convictions, based on faith, that nourish one’s intelligence and fortify one’s heart in times of trial.
Among these arrows in a hero’s hand, one of the affirmations of faith that should permanently reside in us is that all the reasons that cause us to lose our sense of peace are bad reasons.
This conviction is most certainly not founded on human considerations. It can only be a certitude of faith, founded on the Word of God. It does not reside in the reasoning of the world, as Jesus clearly told us: Peace I leave with you, my own peace I give you; a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid… (John 14:27)
Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
St. Francis de Sales
Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Let your kindness be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:4-7)
The peace coming from the Holy Spirit is more than relief from suffering, a sense of well-being, or a sense of equanimity. It is rooted in a deep sense of home, home amid the cosmos (which we of faith know is being at home with God).
Fr Robert Spitzer SJ. From CHRIST VS SATAN IN OUR DAILY LIVES
Spiritual Sun Pennies 