St. Aquilinus of Milan (d. 1015 A.D.), also known as St. Aquilinus of Cologne, was born to a noble family in Bavaria, Germany. He received his education in Cologne, Germany and was ordained to the priesthood. He was offered the bishopric of Cologne, but turned it down in order to be a missionary priest and itinerant preacher. He traveled through various European cities fighting against the dangerous and spreading heresies of the Cathars, Manichaeans, and Arians. He was also known to work miracles by healing people from disease, especially during a cholera epidemic. He eventually settled in Milan, Italy, and was so effective in his preaching against the Arian heretics that they stabbed him to death and threw his body in the city sewer. His body was recovered and buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, in a chapel which now bears his name. His feast day is January 29.
St. Martina of Rome (d. 228 A.D.) was born to a noble Roman family and orphaned at a young age. She was zealous in the practice of her faith, remained a virgin, and, in preparation for the Christian persecutions sweeping the city, gave much of her inheritance to the poor. She was martyred under Roman Emperor Alexander Severus. According to the accounts of her martyrdom, she was discovered praying in a church and was arrested by Roman soldiers. She was ordered to pay homage to the pagan gods, which she refused. She was then cruelly tortured over several days. She was raked with iron hooks and scourged, and when a bright light enveloped her, some of her torturers were converted to the Faith amid her fervent prayers. She was then taken to the temple of Diana to be forced to offer sacrifice, but at her presence the temple’s demon left with a scream. They next tried to throw her to a lion (it showed no interest in her) and to burn her alive, but she would not catch fire. Finally, she was beheaded. St. Martina’s feast day is January 30.
We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. In 1222, the Council of Oxford prohibited servile labor in England on Blaise’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honor, and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual Saint Blaise blessing for their throats.
We know that Bishop Blaise was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blaise were written 400 years later. According to them Blaise was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blaise was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but he made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blaise’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears.
The legend has it that as the hunters hauled Blaise off to prison, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command the child was able to cough up the bone.
Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blaise to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blaise refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. Finally, he was beheaded.
Reflection
Four centuries give ample opportunity for fiction to creep in with fact. Who can be sure how accurate Blaise’s biographer was? But biographical details are not essential. Blaise is seen as one more example of the power those have who give themselves entirely to Jesus. As Jesus told his apostles at the Last Supper, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). With faith we can follow the lead of the Church in asking for Blaise’s protection.
What is the law really for? It’s not to make God love us. That issue is already solved, once and forever, and we are powerless to change it in one direction or the other. The purpose of spiritual law is simply to sharpen our awareness about who we are and who God is, so that we can name our own insufficiency and, in that same movement, find God’s fullness. That’s why saints like Francis are invariably saying, in effect, “I’m nothing. Everything I’ve done that’s good has come from God. The only things I can claim are my own sins.” He is not being overly humble, just truthful. In such people, the law has achieved its full purpose.
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
Encouraged during his youth in Turin to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan in Turin, and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.
After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, Don Bosco opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.
By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. John’s interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854, he and his followers informally banded together, inspired by Saint Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
Reflection
John Bosco educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us. Yet, because John realized the importance of job-training and the self-worth and pride that come with talent and ability, he trained his students in the trade crafts, too.
St. Brigid of Ireland (451–525 A.D.), also known as St. Brigit of Kildare, was born to a pagan Irish chieftain and a Christian slave mother. Being the daughter of a slave woman, she also was a slave, and worked as a dairy maid. She became known for her virtuous life and her charity to the poor. Recognizing her great piety and special graces, a Christian king convinced her father to grant Brigid her freedom. Once free to follow her own course in life, St. Brigid refused marriage, consecrated herself to Christ, and became Ireland’s first nun. She also formed Ireland’s first convent at Kildare and became its abbess. She went on to found many other religious communities, as well as a School of Art famous for its metal working and illuminated manuscripts. St. Brigid was known for her extraordinary spirituality, even converting her father to the faith after he witnessed her fashioning the sign of the cross from strands of rushes. She was also a contemporary and friend of St. Patrick. When she died, her sisters kept a fire burning in an enclosure at her Kildare convent. This fire burned for centuries, tended by the sisters and not burning out until the 13th century. It was later re-lit and burned for 400 more years until the Protestant revolt. St. Brigid is the patroness of Ireland and many other causes, most notably of dairy and milk maids, chicken farmers, travelers, and sailors. Her feast day is February 1st.
St. Lawrence of Canterbury (d. 619 A.D.) was among the original band of missionaries sent from Rome to evangelize England with St. Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. As a fruit of their labor the region’s most powerful ruler, the King of Kent, became a baptized Christian along with many of his countrymen. When Augustine died, Lawrence became Canterbury’s second Archbishop. He was a zealous leader and urged the Celtic bishops to keep peace and unity with Rome. When the King of Kent died, his pagan son caused great damage to the faith of the people and the mission work which had been done among them; because of this, some of the missionaries fled to Gaul. Lawrence was so upset by the abandonment of Christianity among his flock that he considered abandoning his bishopric as well. In response, St. Peter the Apostle appeared to him in a vision, rebuked him, and scourged him so badly that Lawrence had physical marks on his body from the encounter. St. Lawrence then relayed his vision to the king and showed him his wounds, causing the king to convert to the Christian faith as his father did. St. Lawrence’s feast day is February 2nd.
And therefore that good news Jesus came to give us, and that good news you must carry out, you must bring into the world where you are going to move in now. What good news? That God loves you and that you want to love others as He loves you — tenderly, lovingly.
And how do we know that God loves us? There is a very beautiful word in the Scriptures in Isaias where He says: “I have called you by your name, you are Mine. Water will not drown you, fire will not burn you. I will give up nations for you. You are precious to Me. I love you. And if mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you in the palm of My hand.” How wonderful it is, the tenderness of God’s love for us. And it is this that you have to carry out in the world of today.
The Joy of Loving
This expectation your parents, your relations, your friends, even the whole world, is expecting that you be that light, the light that Jesus said: “I am the light that you must lit. I am the truth you must speak. I am the joy that you must share. I am the life that you must lead. I am the love that you must love.” Go with that — the joy of loving.
You must experience the joy of loving. And how do you experience that freedom? You need to be free to love. That means have a clean heart. And this is my prayer for you: that you become real carriers of God’s love, in tenderness and love.
Do Not Be Afraid to Love
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to love. Even when suffering comes, humiliation comes, pain comes, success comes, joy comes. Remember, you are precious to Him. He loves you.
And this is something that today we are brought together to proclaim: the joy of being loved and the joy of loving.
We hear so many terrible things happening. But never lose heart. We always — thank God — I can smile. At least you can smile, if nothing else.
The Kiss of Jesus
I never forget one day I met a lady who was dying of cancer, and I could see the way she was struggling with that terrible pain. And I said to her, I said, “You know this is but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close to Him on the cross that He can kiss you.” And she joined her hands together and said: “Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me.
This is the joy of suffering, the kiss of Jesus. Do not be afraid to share in that joy of suffering with Him because He will never give us more suffering than we are able to bear. I have seen that again and again with our poor people.
We deal with thousands of people, people who die of hunger, of disease, people who die of loneliness, of being unwanted, unloved. And I have never yet heard one of them complain or curse.
Once I picked up a man from the street — from an open drain — and I took him to our home. He did not shout; he did not blame anybody. [He] just said, “I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, loved and cared [for].” Two or three hours after, he died with a big smile on his face. That was tenderness and love that came to him through the hands of those young sisters.
Now, in our congregation, we have about 70 young American sisters who have joined and who are completely so totally dedicated, and through that taking care of lepers, of the dying, of the crippled, of the unwanted, of the shut-ins and so on. And there is so much — that sharing and joy. Because Jesus wants us to be happy, He wants us to give that joy “that My joy be with you.” And we have no reason to be unhappy because we are loved by God Himself even in suffering. It is not a punishment, it is a gift of God.
Prayer Is Your Strength
And so I think these days when you are, after so many years — four full years you are prepared — I hope you have learned to pray. And if you have learned to pray, that is your strength, that is your joy. And through this life of prayer, make sure — the fruit of prayer is always the deepening of faith. And the fruit of faith is always love. And the fruit of love is action. We must put our love for Jesus in the living action.
How do we do that? If we do it with Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, and if we do it to Jesus, then we know that we are with Him because He has said so.
This is not an act of faith, to believe that I am doing it to Jesus. Jesus has said, “Whatever you do to the least of My brethren, you do to Me.”
And also the condition — in our last day when we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged by what we have been to Him, and He says, “I was hungry; and you gave Me to eat; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was homeless, and you did it to Me.” There is no imagination, no maybe.
Our Need for the Eucharist
Just as we believe that two and two make four — we don’t need to believe that; we know it is like that — so [it is the same] when Jesus has said, “You did it to me,” that presence. And to be able to do that, we need the Eucharist, we need Jesus in the Holy Communion, we need the Bread of Life. That is why Jesus made Himself Bread of Life to satisfy our hunger for His love. And then He makes Himself the Hungry One so that we can satisfy His hunger for our love.
A few months ago, I had to go to Delhi, and one of the ministers was the top man in social works, and he said, “Mother Teresa, you and we are doing [the] same social work. But there is a great difference between you and us. We do it for something, and you do it to somebody.”
This is for you young people: Remember, do it to somebody; that man, that woman, my brother, my sister — somebody. Jesus in distressing disguise.
Love Begins at Home
And how do we have to do that? Where does it begin, this love? At home. And how does this love begin? [The] family that prays together, stays together. And if you stay together, you will love one another as God loves each one of you, as Jesus wants us to love one another — not in sadness, but in joy. To think that I can love God in my brother, in my sister — it is a wonderful thing.
Only we must come to know. Do we know the poor of this beautiful country? Maybe the poor are in our own family. Maybe we have somebody sick, somebody old, somebody feeling very restless, somebody feeling very lonely. Do we know that?
Rejection and the Loss of Human Dignity
Nakedness is not only for a piece of cloth. Nakedness is also the loss of that dignity, human dignity — the loss for what is beautiful, what is pure, what is chaste, what is virgin. Loss. Homelessness is not only [for] a house made of brick. Homelessness is being that people are completely forgotten, rejected, left alone, as if they are nobody to nobody.
I never forget, one day I was walking down the streets of London, and there I saw a man. The way he was sitting, the way he was looking, he looked the most rejected man that I have ever seen. So, I went right near him, and I took his hand and shook his hand. And my hands are very warm — except here they are a little bit cold.
But I shook his hands, and then he said, “Oh, after so long a time, I feel the warmth of a human hand.” And his face was quite different. There was joy, there was sunshine in his eyes. I can’t tell you the change that came on that man’s life just with that simple shaking of the hand, the warmth of my hand. This is felt.
Abortion is the Greatest Poverty
Now, you young people must go out with that — with the searching eyes. Go in search and find. Maybe in your family; maybe next-door neighbor. Find. There are many people here in the States.
To me, the greatest poverty is that abortion: the fear of the child. The child must die; the child must be killed so that we don’t have to feed one more child, we don’t have to educate one more child. Terrible! Terrible! Mother could murder her own child! Terrible! It is the sign of great poverty. And so, open your eyes to come to know.
Learn from the Poor
One evening, a man came to our house and said, “There is a family with eight children that have not eaten for a long time. Do something for them.” And I took some rice, and the mother took [it]. I could see from the eyes of the children — God knows how long they had not eaten — their eyes were simply shining with hunger, and big black lines under their eyes. And the mother went out with the rice, and when she came back, I asked her, “Where did you go? And what did you do?” And she said, “They are hungry, also.”
Next-door neighbor. She knew they were hungry. I was not surprised that she gave, but I was very much surprised that she knew, because in sorrow like that, in a suffering like that, very often we have no time to think of others. And yet this tremendous woman had the courage to love like that. Great love.
This is something we have to learn from the poor people; they are very great people. You don’t know what is hunger. You have never experienced that. But one day, I picked up a child — six, seven years old — from the street, and I could see the pain of hunger in her face. So, I gave her a piece of bread. And then I saw the child eating the bread, crumb by crumb. I said, “Eat, eat the bread.” And then she looked at me and said, “I am afraid when the bread will be finished, I will be hungry again.”
See, that little one, so small, has already tasted the pain of suffering, the pain of hunger. And this is what I want you — you, who are going out into the world — [to do]: open your eyes.
Many young people come to Calcutta to share in the work — many from different universities, from different colleges. They come and spend two weeks, one month, according to what they are able to make. And there, each one of them, they come, they share the life of prayer with us in our congregation, and we have adoration every day, so for one in the evening.
“I Saw, but I Did Not Look”
So they come. Especially they want to work in the Home for the Dying. And they come with us, and they always say the same thing: “At home, I saw but I didn’t look. You have taught me to see and to look. Now I go home, and I am sure I will find the same. I must find people who need my tender love and care.” All of them.
A girl — a university girl who was in her final examination [for a] Ph.D. in Paris University — she came, also. Before examination, she wanted to spend one month working with Mother Teresa in the Home for the Dying. She was always very occupied, and so on. But then one week before, one day she came to our house, and she put her hands around me, and she said, “I found Jesus.” I said, “Yes, where did you find Him?” And she said, “I found Him in the Home for the Dying.” And I said to her, “What did you do with Jesus when you found Him?” And she said, “I went to confession and Holy Communion after 15 years.”
Then I said, “What else did you do with Jesus when you found Him?” And she said, “I sent a telegram to my parents and told them I found Jesus.” So beautiful.
See: She came, she saw, she looked, and she did. This is what you go out with that determination. Mary came into the room with Elisabeth, the little one leaped with joy. Your presence should bring that in your own family first. The joy of that presence of Christ, the joy of purity, the joy of that real sharing.
Love with a Virgin Heart
It is very beautiful that a young man loves a young woman, and a young woman loves a young man. That’s a beautiful creation of God. But make sure, make sure, that you love with a clean heart, with a pure heart, that you love with a virgin heart. And that on the day of your marriage — when God makes you one, as in the Scripture we read that they cleave together and they become one — on that day, that you can give to each other a virgin heart, a virgin body, a virgin soul. That is the greatest gift you can give to each other.
A few days before I came, I left Calcutta, a young man and a woman came to our house, and just two days before that they had got married. And they gave me a big amount of money to feed the people, because we cook for 7,000 people in Calcutta every day. So, these good young people gave me the money to feed the people.
And I said, “Where did you get so much money?” And they said to me, “Mother, before our marriage, we decided that out of love for each other, we will not buy wedding clothes, we will not have a wedding feast; we will give you the money.” And I said, “Why did you do that?” because that is unheard of in India, especially in a Hindu family. Marriage is something very important, a big part of their lives.
And they said they wanted to give something very special to each other. “We loved each other so tenderly, and we wanted to give something special to each other.” This is a love, a great love.
Light a New Light
So, my prayer for you is that you go in the world today with a virgin heart, with a virgin love, and give that love to all you meet. Your presence should light a new light in the lives of people.
When our sisters went to Yemen — a Muslim country, completely Muslim; there is no church, no nothing there — the governor of that place wrote and said, “The presence of the sisters has lit a new light in the lives of our people.”
This is something that you also — Go forward with the joy and keep the joy of loving Jesus in your hearts and share that joy with all you meet, especially with one another and with your family.
And through this love for each other, you will grow in holiness. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. It’s a simple duty for you and for me. So, let us grow in that holiness so that one day, we will be all one heart full of love in the Heart of Jesus.
Pray for Us
And you, also, pray for us, the sisters and the brothers. We have consecrated our lives to love Christ with undivided love and chastity through freedom of poverty, in total surrender and obedience.
And in our congregation, we take a fourth vow of giving wholehearted, free service to the poorest of the poor. By this vow, we are specially bound to the people who have nothing and nobody, and [we], also, fully depend on Divine Providence.
We accept no government grants, no salaries, no church [supplements]. We are just like the flowers of the field and the birds of the air. We depend on Him fully and He has been a wonderful father to us and to our poor people.
We deal with thousands and thousands and thousands of people, and we have never had to say, “I’m sorry, we don’t have.” It’s always been there. So, you pray that we don’t spoil God’s work, that it remains His work.
Religious Life Is a Great Gift
And you help your children when God calls them to join in giving their lives to God, to [the] priesthood or to religious life. Be grateful to God for this great gift, for this is something very special because God is asking your child to belong to Him totally and to give Him the all for Him.
So, let us pray together for our poor people that God’s love may be shown to them through each one of us:
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellowmen throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy.
Is it possible to experience peace, and live it spiritually, when things in your life seem to be imploding?
Yes. Not only can you remain in peace yourself, you can bring it to others—regardless of your circumstances.
Sacred Scripture repeatedly calls us to be at peace. Here is one particular verse:
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15
Such interior peace does not depend on the absence of conflict, strife, or suffering. It is completely unrelated to the events taking place in our lives. It exists at such a deep and soulful level—an otherworldly level—that it remains untouched by whatever swirls around us.
Yes, in the midst of our greatest sufferings, we can still have this peace of soul, this biblical peace. It is a peace that we come to know, over time, as we learn to entrust every circumstance of our lives to the Lord.
Every. Single. One.
Suffering Is Not Wasted
Have you ever heard the saying “God uses everything”? I have recognized and lived this truth many times in my life, but perhaps most powerfully in the last five years—for it is in these last five years that Our Lord has begun to teach me so much more about His peace.
It all began when one of my children was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The shock and fear of that moment—and the many shocks that followed—are something I can’t describe, but anyone who has gone through moments like these can understand.
The last five years have been difficult, at times threatening our peace in every way imaginable. Yet we are still persevering, and still hoping, as our daughter continues to struggle with a disease that doctors say is incurable.
Sometimes peace comes so naturally; sometimes it comes moment by moment. But I know it is there for me, and I rest in it every day of my life. I see it growing from faith and hope and from the charity of wonderful prayer warriors, who sustain and accompany my family during this time.
Here are six things that I have found necessary for finding and keeping interior peace:
1. Know what (and Who) peace truly is.
The peace with which God wants to fill our hearts is not strictly found in a weekend getaway, a stroll on the beach, or a day off from a difficult schedule. Those getaways are indeed important—they encourage us to enter into an atmosphere of serenity, which makes it easier for us to seek interior silence and to hear His voice. When we seek to establish peace and organization in our home, for example, the more interior soul-level peace we can experience. Calm surroundings help us focus on Him, not on life’s difficulties.
At the same time, we should not confuse a peaceful atmosphere with the peace God wants to give us. This peace—which only He can give—is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Now this gift does not mean that we will be entirely calm and serene all the time, or that we will never experience emotions brought about by weariness, sadness, grief, fear, or anxiety. At the same time, we should not assume that because our emotions get the best of us, we are incapable of the supernatural gift of peace—or that we do not have it at all.
We will, at times, be fearful and anxious. It is part of our human nature. The key is to be vigilant over our emotions and refuse to let them carry us away. We must offer them to God when things are challenging, and directly ask Him for His peace. Because peace is not a thing. It is a person. Jesus Christ. Only through intimacy with Him will we ever truly find it.
2. Defend your daily peace if you want biblical peace.
We must do everything we can to defend our daily peace—every day—unceasingly. Some of the “noise of the world” is inevitable. We cannot escape it. It is part of living in this age. But it’s important to recognize that we are actually choosing some of this noise for ourselves!
It does not please the Lord if we are so busy running around, helping everyone, and doing everything, that we are frantic all day long with no time to seek or acknowledge Him. It doesn’t delight Him if we become so overwrought by the problems of our loved ones that we don’t remember to give these problems to Him and rest securely in that.
Prudent choices about how far to extend ourselves, and when to detach ourselves, are important to keeping our peace. We are called to charity, selflessness, and generosity, but if we overextend that without prudence, we are responsible for giving away our own peace.
A quiet mind is essential to finding and keeping your peace. Look at the things you choose to prioritize during your day. If time with Christ isn’t one of them, what can you set aside in favor of more quiet time to rest in Him? How will we find Him if we are not actively looking for Him by clearing space (in our hearts, minds, and calendars) to meet Him?
Time in prayerful communion with God is the best kind of quiet. If that is missing from your life, start today. Sit quietly for ten minutes, talking to Him, thanking and praising Him, and asking for His peace. That is a beginning.
Make time for things that calm your mind. Disconnect from what fills it with “noise.”
3. Recall what He has done in the past so that you can keep trusting Him with the future.
Psalm 77:1 says, “I will recall the deeds of the Lord; yes, recall your wonders of old.”
In order to have peace, we must practice trusting God, over and over again, until it becomes natural and constant for us. We know how much He loves us, and how much He desires for us. He gave everything in order to demonstrate that love.
The Lord is particularly glorified when we entrust everything to Him in the midst of a disorienting and debilitating situation. We do not have to know the mind of God or understand why He permits something in order to entrust Him with our cares. Seeing our trust and obedience in the face of devastating uncertainty gives great glory to God. It allows Him to open a portal to us for greater grace and peace.
Trust does not come naturally to most of us. Relinquishing everything to Christ is an act of the will. We cannot perfect this disposition without willing ourselves to surrender everything to Him over and over again, constantly, until it becomes second nature.
When you are tempted to try and take back what you have given to the Lord, remember His works throughout salvation history; throughout your own life; and throughout the lives of your loved ones. What He has done before, He can do again, and then some. His power is unlimited, as is His mercy and love.
4. Live a life of praise.
Try praising God for every “little miracle,” even as you are praying for greater things. The little things can be as seemingly insignificant: a beautiful day, a patch of flowers seen on a walk, an unexpected visit from a friend.
Many times as we are suffering, the little things allow us to live a life of praise for—and glory in—our good God. Sometimes the big prayers remain unanswered, only to be addressed in His timing—but there are always little things that we can praise Him for.
Praise is a mantle of protection against the enemy. It prevents the evil one from getting a foothold on us. Remember, the devil wants to take away our hope. Without it we are laid bare as the most vulnerable prey to his tactics.
Sacred Scripture tells us that praise—which demonstrates hope—is a spiritual weapon in our arsenal.
On the mouths of children and infants, you have found praise to foil your enemy, to silence the foe and the rebel.
Psalm 8:2
In the beginning, it may feel forced and unnatural, but focus on finding things for which to praise God. Praise Him as constantly as you can, interiorly and even aloud.
5. Stay in the present moment.
Don’t get too far ahead. God gave us wisdom and knowledge, but only a finite amount of both. There’s a reason for that. He is God and we are not. He has already suffered for us, in order to make suffering redemptive and own it all. In this way, He shows us that He wants to be our peace.
Don’t give away your peace to your own imagination by getting too far ahead of yourself. You will be worrying about things that may not materialize and ruining this moment with the anxieties of the next. Stay in this present moment, live in it, and seek Him in it.
Trust Him as He stretches and readies you along the way, so that He has time to prepare you for what comes next. Don’t seek what’s ahead before He has made you ready. He will lift the veil on the future a little at a time. Take comfort in that and don’t rush into things He has not yet prepared you to receive.
There are graces to be found in the smallest things if we are living in the moment. Worries and anxieties bind us if we are jumping into the future—at the expense of the graces in this moment, and peace in the next.
6. Have an expectant faith.
Even when you are frightened by the things in life that you can see, believe that God is with you. Believe that His will is perfect for you. Believe that He wants only what is best for you. Do not doubt God’s desire to bless you.
We glorify Him all the more when we have an expectant faith. It feeds our sense of hope and trust. These things lead us to interior peace even in the darkest circumstances. If we truly believe in His infinite love for us and His desire for us in heaven, we can live in the expectant faith that Jesus calls us to in Sacred Scripture.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace…
Hebrews 4:16
But how can we have an expectant faith when situations are truly devastating?
This is a question I have wrestled with over time. In these crises, we must go back to what we know, because there is so much that is unknowable to us in this life.
The Apostle Paul understood this well:
Therefore we are not discouraged; rather, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison, as we look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Are you experiencing great sufferings that seem insurmountable? The Beatitudes are Jesus’ promises for some of life’s most tragic situations. In each beatitude, His eternal promises bring graces in which we can trust and believe. His promises are the promises of heaven, not necessarily this of earthly life. As Christians, however, we know that these are the grandest, most incredible, and most important of all His promises.
It takes trust and strength of will to “see” eternally and wait for the Lord to bring graces from something tragic. But He has promised to accompany us with His mercy and love, so we must believe that, in time—if we stay faithful—graces will follow even the most devastating trials.
Final Thoughts
Peace is not simply a serene atmosphere that allows for temporary relief from anxieties. It is not merely a “state of mind” or a period of rest and tranquility. Those types of peace are transitory.
Peace is the person of Christ, in His permanence and love. He’s waiting for you to entrust everything to Him. Keep giving Him your cares and trusting in His promises, both here and in eternity, and you will find the peace and healing your soul craves.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way…
