Always be at peace

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

WE have to remember that this is our ideal condition to be in. We may have to do some battling, we may feel angered and agitated for a number of reasons, we may be hounded by fears, doubts and worries, but let’s see to it that, at least, at the end of the day, we should be at peace with everyone, with God first and with everybody else also.

And if we master the art of peace-making well, we somehow would know how to have peace in our mind and heart even if we have to go through the unavoidable battles and episodes of anger and agitation, of fears, worries and the like in our life.

The secret, of course, is to be with God, to identify ourselves with Christ, following his teachings and example. With Christ, we would know how to deal with all the elements of our life that are contrary to our dignity as children of God, and yet not eaten up by bitter zeal, anger, hatred and the like. In fact, we would know how to always live charity whose manifestation will always include peace of mind and heart.

It’s important that we have peace in our mind and heart because that is the requirement for us to see things clearly and objectively, to make judgments fairly and to do things well. With peace, we can manage to be hopeful and happy even while cruising still in this vale of tears of ours.

Without peace, we can only manage the opposite. Our biases will dominate the way we perceive things, make judgments and do things in general. And our suffering continues and can worsen.

While peace is an effect of charity, it is also what keeps charity going and growing. There is always an intimate mutual relationship between charity and peace. The more love for God and others we have, the more peace we will also enjoy. And vice-versa—the more peace we have, our love for God and others would also grow.

We can always have peace because even in the worst scenario when problems, issues and difficulties are left unresolved, we can always go to God, asking for grace or mercy or whatever help we need. And God always takes care of everything. He is always there for us, ever solicitous of our needs and eager to forgive. All we need to do is to go to him.

We just have to learn also how to live abandonment in the ever powerful and wise providence of God. And this can mean that we also have to learn to be patient and hopeful, willing to suffer together with Christ who bore all our sins and everything that our sins would cause, and who conquered all of them by his resurrection.

We also have to learn how to be accepting of persons and things as they are even as we slowly find ways of how we can help each other to be how we ought to be according to God’s designs for us. We should avoid getting stuck in our differences and conflicts.

We can always find common ground among ourselves. The fact that we are all humans, that we are all creatures of God, children of his, and loved by him are some of the basic inalienable commonalities we have, which we can use to build up peace among ourselves.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com