The joy and peace from God

IF we are truly with God, we will always have peace

whatever the situation in our earthly life would be. It’s a peace that

the world cannot give, just as what Christ said: “Peace I leave with

you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do

not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (Jn 14,27)

            Of course, with that Christ-given peace comes joy also.

The two always go together. They cannot be separated, although their

expressions may not tally with the worldly standards of joy and peace.

            The joy and peace that comes from God are always a fruit

of a continuing spiritual battle to keep God’s love burning in us.

It’s a joy and peace that is compatible with the cross, with all forms

of suffering. It is not afraid of suffering which also has an

important role to play in our life and in the redemption of mankind.

            It’s a joy and peace that comes as a consequence of faith

and a growing identification with Christ who bore all the sins of men

and the evils of this world and conquered them with his resurrection.

In short, it’s a joy and peace that expresses guaranteed victory even

if at the moment we are still fighting and suffering. It’s an

all-weather kind of joy and peace.

            We need to examine ourselves to see if we have such joy

and peace. It is actually offered to us for free. It’s all there for

the taking. We just have to find a way of having and keeping it.

            And one important way of doing so is to learn to pray,

since prayer is our basic way of connecting with God that hopefully

would lead us to a growing identification with him as we are meant to

be. Remember that we are God’s image and likeness. With God’s grace we

are supposed to do our part, free beings as we are, in realizing this

divine plan for us.

            Learning to pray would obviously need some plan. We have

to go by stages. First, I imagine, would be to learn the vocal payers,

which are already very important as they are inspired prayers given to

us if not by Christ himself like the Our Father then by many holy men

and women down the ages.

            As such, these prayers are very enlightening and would

teach us what to say, how to say, and the kind of attitude or

disposition we ought to have when we pray. Going through them slowly,

trying to figure out what they mean, would certainly help us connect

with God.

            Then we should just spend some moments everyday doing

nothing other than meditating on God’s word as found in the gospel,

and on the life and teachings of Christ as reflected in the lives and

writings of the saints.

            We should persist in this practice until it becomes a

habit that would lead us to feel God’s presence and distinguish his

voice since God is actually guiding us every moment of the day.

            Yes, when we persist in praying we stand to hear those

reassuring words Christ told his apostles who were caught with fear:

“It is I, do not be afraid.” (Jn 6,20) We really have no reason to

fear or to worry at all, since Christ will take care of everything.

What we cannot do, he always can. We just have to trust in his

merciful omnipotence.

            Let’s hope that with this joy and peace that comes from

God, we can focus more directly on what we are supposed to do here on

earth. And that is nothing other than to do a lot of good. It is to

love the way Christ has loved us, a love that goes all the way. (cfr.

Jn 13,34)