Workout thought.
Worries could be categorized or grouped according to past, present, and future, i.e. what happened in the past, what’s going on in the present, and what could happen in the future. It is our duty to be at peace with ourselves accordingly – We need to be at peace with our past, present, and future.
Not everyone is aware of the value of their personal peace, and you can imagine how there are even less who take the effort to realize how to organize their own thoughts in the pursuit of said peace. And even if a plan is laid out in front of us to follow, sure, we could follow the framework, but chances are we will deviate – that is, the best case scenario is that we would stumble and get back up. I have seen how the chaos of this reality has brought us to a mad dash of trying to help ourselves at the cost of others, or helping others at significant personal cost. In other words, we place our personal peace aside and compromise it as we take chances to ensure that those who need our help are at peace; if not, the other way around – we compromise our relationships with others to take time for boost our own personal peace.
It’s like we’re batteries desperately trying to charge each other, and we only charge ourselves whenever we could.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, 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
I’m reminded today that in the Body of Christ, it is a certainty that we have peace beyond understanding – Peace that is not defined by our senses, nor is it defined by the world. We have a supernatural peace, and extraordinary peace that is out of this world, a peace that transcends this reality. I’m not trying to sound mystic here – it’s not an inner peace, nor is it a conceptual peace that manifests the more we focus on it and declare it; No, what we have – WHO we have is a living Peace, in the form of the Holy Spirit. In the Scripture stated above we can understand that in the moments that we are overwhelmed by past, present, and/or future, we have the Holy Spirit to teach us all things; and more importantly, He will bring to our remembrance all that Christ has said to the disciples, and consequently, to us.
One of the songs we sang yesterday talks of our Savior:
‘You’re my Prince of Peace,
and I will live my life for You.’
The way I see it today in the light of what’s been meditated on is that it’s Christ, by way of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to this great peace I speak of – As mentioned He’s the One who teaches us, and He’s the One who reminds us of Christ’s words, and His being the Living Word for us. To add to this, Christ also says later in the same Gospel that it’s this same Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin and convicts the enemy of judgment… But for us who have come to believe in the saving grace of Christ, He convicts us of our righteousness (see John 16:7-11), that though we do not see Him, we are supernaturally reminded of our constant and consistent union to Him, and therefore, His faithfulness, grace and glory.
So with all this being said, I do respect the lyrics of Michael W. Smith’s song, and I’d love to sing them, but at the same time I also appreciate that Christ is my Prince of Peace, and that this Life I live is from Him.
Christ is my Prince of Peace, and He rose to Life for me.
Christ is my Prince of Peace and He and I live HIS Life.
Funny how we try off our own efforts to ‘live our lives for Him’ when Christ, by default, did what He did, and paid the price so it is His Life in us, whether we are aware of it or not. Is this to say that we can ignore it and go our own way? Well, I think that’s another thing – even if we try to shake Him, I’m reminded of the words of a Psalmist, regarding God’s omnipresence:
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalms 139:7-12
I have reason to believe that even in our deepest of doubts, and in the greatest of darkness, behold, Christ is not only ‘there’; He is with us, and as close as He could ever be to us.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
I have further reason to believe that even when our senses do not perceive His presence, and even when we try so hard to ‘feel’ Him in vain, the Creator of all that is seen who is also the Maker of all that is unseen is perceived in all creation.
We are at peace, for we are reminded of His glory from all things that have been made (from the outside in).
We are at peace, for we are also reminded of our Righteousness by the Holy Spirit poured into us (from the inside out).
As we start this week, I share what they usually close with at mass: ‘Go in Peace.’
Indeed. Let’s have a good week, everyone.
Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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