“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Peace of God

The opposite of peace is restlessness. It torments the soul so that it is in a state of constant fear or nervousness. The cause of mental torment may be that you believe a lie and make a big mistake in your life which you must pay dearly for. Then you feel anger or even hatred towards yourself and your neighbours, and you even throw the blame on God! You may be tormented by intrusive thoughts which incite you to crime. You don’t want them to trouble you and you don’t realize that the source of these pressures is a lie, the spirit of lies.

You can have wealth, career, and yet feel restless in your soul! So there are more sources of restlessness: fear of future, remorse for doing evil, sin…

Jesus says: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus says: “…My peace I give to you; not as the world gives…” Various psychological methods which are contrary to natural laws, various oriental meditations which suggestively kill conscience… None of these give true peace. They are methods of deceit. They kill conscience and truth!

On the other hand, there is restlessness which leads to salvation. Saint Augustine says: “Our heart is restless until it rests in You, O Lord.”

Do you want to have peace which the world cannot give? Only Jesus gives such peace. Jesus gives peace and joy in suffering and persecution to those who come to Him! He says: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (peace) for your souls.” (Mt 11:28-29)

Practical instruction: You have a certain task. You are afraid and you would rather flee. However, your responsibility before God and neighbours forces you to take up this cross. Begin with prayer, stand in the light of God and tell Jesus about all your fears. If you come to Him with this burden, He will give you rest, light, strength and peace! He will show you how to deal with the problem and will give you the strength to make the first steps and then the next ones too. Just do what you should and can, and He will do what you can not! And He will give you peace.

Have you been diagnosed with a serious illness? Go to Jesus! Stand before Him, pray and give your illness into His hands, looking at things from the perspective of eternity. Repeat to Him: “You see me. You love me. Your will be done!”

If you do not have the strength to open your heart, share your problem with your brothers or sisters in Christ and pray together. The Lord will give you the light and strength. Saints and martyrs are an example for us. What does it mean to look at things from the perspective of eternity? It means that you look at your life and think seriously about death and God’s judgment. You desire just one thing: to save your soul from eternal damnation and to obtain eternal life in heaven with Jesus who died for you, with saints and angels, at any cost, even at the cost of greatest suffering or humiliation in this world. Jesus will give you peace if you surrender yourself to the will of God.

Example: Being a young priest, I heard of a tragedy. A group of young people were going home from a disco by car and crashed into a pillar. Four of them died instantly and one was unconscious. One of those who died was a boy from my parish. He was the only son of his parents. I prayed for the unhappy parents and went to encourage them. The father of the boy was in a deep depression. He did not react to my presence at all, and all my words of encouragement were in vain. I stood there for a long time, praying in spirit and asking Jesus to come into the soul of the sorrowful father. As I prayed, I recalled two stories from the time when I was a priest in my first parish. I said slowly: One day a woman came running to the parish house, weeping. She brought along her three little boys who were weeping too. Their father had been cutting wood with an electric saw, fell and the saw cut his head. Then I talked about a widow who helped in the parish house. Every week she travelled to a charity hospital for handicapped children. All her children were cripples. The daughter was blind, the elder son was in a wheelchair and the youngest son was confined to bed, his arms were mere stumps and instead of speaking he just uttered inarticulate animal sounds. The mother loved them all and they loved her. She never complained to anyone. Jesus gave her the strength to carry her cross and filled her soul with peace. When I finished, the heart-broken father recovered from depression and had a look of peace on his face. I felt that Jesus came and gave him His peace which the world cannot give.

Download: Reflection on Jn 14:27