Simple Steps to Finding Peace
By Mary Grace Dostalik
We long for peace today, perhaps more than ever before. Our lives are noisy. There are constant distractions. The endless cycle of news permeates our lives with tragedies occurring around the world. It seems that no matter how much we accomplish, there remains an uneasiness in our souls, a longing for peace.
It is evident that modern society has identified this longing––we hunger for respite from a busy world, turning to activities such as meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises to help us find the calm we so desire.
While these activities may have their place, true peace can only come from Christ. As St. Augustine famously says, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
So how do we achieve this peace amidst so many obstacles?
Wrestling to maintain peace
When I do not make peace a focus in my own life, I run through my day anxious and stressed. I especially struggled with maintaining peace in college. It was so difficult for me to live in the moment. I remember turning down invitations to spend time with friends, and even time in prayer, so I could instead accomplish more. I was always so anxious about the next assignment, the next paper, or the next test. I was constantly “doing” when I really needed to take a moment to simply “be.” As a result, I was often stressed.
To this day, the struggle continues: from the minute I wake up to the moment I lay my head back down, my mind is filled with tasks to accomplish, anxieties about the future, and stress about whatever the following day holds. My shoulders are tense. My mind is uneasy. Every task seems like a huge undertaking.
Fr. Jacques Phillipe speaks to this uneasiness in his book, Searching for and Maintaining Peace:
Consider the surface of a lake, above which the sun is shining. If the surface of the lake is peaceful and tranquil, the sun will be reflected in this lake; and the more peaceful the lake, the more perfectly will it be reflected. If, on the contrary, the surface of the lake is agitated, undulating, then the image of the sun can not be reflected in it.
This simple yet profound metaphor illustrates how our souls can better reflect Christ if they are calm and at peace. As Phillipe goes on to say, the more tranquil our soul, the more God’s image is reflected in us. Consequently, the more uneasy and troubled we are, the harder it is for God’s grace to work within us. If this is the case, establishing and cultivating a state of peace ought to be our highest priority.
Peace: more than a feeling
While we often think of peace as a feeling, it is so much more than that. It is an action. It is a desire to surrender yourself to God. Even during times of great suffering, peace can be sought. For those of us who find ourselves in chronic states of worry, peace is possible for us, too. Our suffering offers an opportunity to unite ourselves to God. Jesus is there to help shoulder the burden of each and every one of our crosses. Peace can be found by seeking and accepting God’s will, especially in our suffering.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for peace is shalôm, which literally means “to be complete or whole.” This wholeness is found in God. When we make a habit of coming to Him in prayer each day, we put peace into action and, like a muscle that is strengthened with use, we become better able to maintain our peace.
It’s important to note, though, that both the search for and the maintaining of peace is a lifelong practice. In a world where it’s so common to feel “anxious and worried about many things” (Luke 10:41), it can be all too easy to lose our peace as the day’s anxieties creep up and overwhelm us, pushing us to frantically act.
The loss of peace will look different for each of us. I personally struggle with giving up control. I spread myself thin, attempting to be everything to everyone I meet. This struggle reared its head a few months ago, when I was feeling severely overwhelmed at my new job. Yet, instead of asking for help, I tried to struggle through, making myself miserable in the process. I thought that asking for help would be a sign of failure, an indication that I could not do my work properly. But was I glorifying God by overworking myself? Definitely not. Through this experience, I came to realize that a life of anxious action is not what God wants for us.
Cultivating peaceful practices
When I think of what God does want for my life, Isaiah 30:15 comes to mind: “By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, / in quiet and in trust shall be your strength.” Instead of rushing around endlessly, it would be much more fruitful to find ourselves in the calm gaze of Jesus and allow that gaze to center our lives and our every action. Easier said than done, right? So how do we actually find and maintain peace despite the distractions and the turmoil that we face? Below are a few practices to help us begin this journey into peace:
Gaze upon Him every day
We can contemplate His great love for us by going to Adoration, or just spending some silent time in prayer. Consider gazing upon a holy card with an image of Christ to meditate on some aspect of Him (e.g., His gentleness, His Sacred Heart, His role as Good Shepherd).
Call upon the Holy Spirit
I’ve found it to be a comforting practice to invite the Holy Spirit into each moment of my day. To combat my recent work anxieties, I placed a sticky note with the word “breathe” on my work computer. Whenever I see it, I try to take a deep breath and pray, “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Simple actions that allow us to invite God into our hearts, our lives, and our every action, can make a huge difference in our peace. We may need to remind ourselves often of Christ’s great love for us. As an Advocate born of the love between Father and Son, the Holy Spirit can reorient us toward the love of the Trinity.
Be not afraid
The words “be not afraid” appear in the Bible over 300 times! In these words it’s clear that Christ does not want us to live by fear, that in our fears He is with us every step of the way. During the calming of the storm at sea, Jesus says to His disciples, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” (Mark 4:40). We might meditate on this question whenever we feel our fears taking hold. Try and dig deep—why are you afraid?
Though He does not wish us to worry or be fearful, the reality is that worry and fear play a role in many of our lives and can indicate that we need external support. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it (from family, friends, or a therapist), and accept that sometimes to prioritize your peace you may have to say no to other things.
Do not give up
Discouragement can make the journey to peace difficult. In order not to get stuck when you’re feeling discouraged, I’ve found it helpful to remember that, at some point, I will fail and I will become overwhelmed––and that’s okay. Feeling discouraged is not defeat. Read the lives of the saints and take comfort in the fact that none of them were perfectly peaceful: St. Faustina, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) are great examples of saints who struggled at times to remain at peace and trust God.
At the Last Supper, Jesus says to His disciples,“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” (John 14:27). Our peace can only be found in Christ, who made us for love, not for fear. He wants us to find our rest in Him. Our journey may be difficult; it may be fraught with suffering. But remember, Jesus is always there for us. It is in seeking Him that we find our peace.
