Inner Peace

Last week we were challenged to tear down the walls between the parts of our life in which we look for peace and the parts of our life where we are-or are not-willing to make spiritual efforts, then we truly have the opportunity to find the peace we crave so deeply. This week we continue with Part 2 of Elder Thaddeus book, “Our Thoughts Determine our Lives”.

Repentance is a complete turning of one’s heart toward Absolute Goodness, and not only of the heart but also the mind, the feelings, the body, and one’s whole being. Repentance is the unbreakable union of love with our Father and Creator. Therefore we must always be in prayer and at all times ask the Mother of God to give us the strength to love Him as she herself does, along with the Saints and the Angels. Then we will be blessed both in this life and in eternity as well. For God is love (agape), peace, and joy, which fills every being that seeks Him from the heart.

Repentance is a complete turning of one’s heart toward Absolute Goodness, and not only of the heart but also the mind, the feelings, the body, and one’s whole being. Repentance is the unbreakable union of love with our Father and Creator. Therefore, we must always be in prayer and at all times ask the Mother of God to give us the strength to love Him as she herself does, along with the Saints and the Angels. Then we will be blessed both in this life and in eternity as well. For God is love (agape), peace, and joy, which fills every being that seeks Him from the heart.

And so, it is clear that if we wish good for ourselves and our neighbors, we must change. Our thoughts influence not only us but everything that surrounds us. That is why we must emit only good, quiet, and kind thoughts. The Lord commands us to love our enemies, not for our sake, but for our own good. For as long as we wallow in the remembrance of an insult we have suffered from a friend, a neighbor, or a relative, we will have neither peace nor rest. We must become free from such thoughts. This means that we must forgive from the heart. Everything must be forgiven. The peace we feel afterwards brings a sense of well-being, joy, and comfort not only to us but to all who surround us. Everyone will feel the impact of our thoughts if our thoughts are kind and peaceful. And the opposite is true, as well. If the head of a family is burdened with worries and cares about the family finances, the other members of his family have no peace. Even the little children who do not yet understand the problems of life will have no peace, because the father is burdened with cares. Therefore, all of us, and especially those who have a family household under their charge, must learn to “commit ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God.” When we fully believe that God will help us if we turn to Him from our heart, He comforts us.  Even if we commit a sin against our parents or disobey them in some important matter, they will open their parental hearts and forgive us and help us if we ask for their help most earnestly.

Thus we, too, must learn to forgive from the heart.

Many people come to me and tell me that they have trouble preserving their inner peace. Well, we cannot preserve our inner peace as long as our conscience is telling us something. First we must appease our conscience. The Lord will look upon us and illumine us with His Grace. And He will give us of His goodness, for goodness is a Divine power that works everywhere, especially in those who earnestly seek the Fountain of Life. The Lord has said to us even through an Old Testament Prophet, “My son, give me thine heart” (Proverbs 23:26). This is the Divine peace that God plants like a seed in every heart and the kind of peace that gives comfort to every soul.

Our Lord is the sole comfort of both angels and men, of every soul that yearns for Him. He alone is eternal. We can seek comfort from our fellow men here in this life, but all this is every limited, for created beings are limited in time and space and cannot dispense eternity. God alone takes care of every need of our souls. Although we have been created as limited beings, we seek eternity, and no one from among our closest of kin, family or friends can give us eternity. Why? Because we are all limited beings, always at war in our thoughts.  The fallen spirits (Satan and demons) are full of evil and envy, and they are constantly waging war on us. God looks upon this war in order to see whether we will seek Him and His help from the heart or not. He is always waiting to help us. However, there are few living examples in this life to whom we can look. We hear a lot of words and see a lot of examples on how to live, how to behave toward our neighbors and family, and how to instruct them to acquire peace and joy. It is doubtful whether we will apply all of this in our lives. It is quite another thing when we see a living example, a person who is quiet and peaceful, full of love–when you become annoyed, that person does not. He forgives everything and is joyful about everything. When we see such a living example, it stays with us and we year to acquire that kind of peace.