A Peaceful Heart

A peaceful heart.  Sometimes, it is hard to know of what true peace is.  Let me distinguish it “Salesian-style.”  The lower level is our human nature, which hungers for want, though it be passing.  This can come from the emotions (I still tend to go after this myself) or preferential pleasures like what kind of food you like.  But there is also a higher level, which may seem to “leave us” in a continual search, but that of steadfastness in faith strengthens us.  This is one with lasting meaning, which “moth cannot decay.”  Further, referring to the example regarding food: I have likes and dislikes in taste, but there is more to life than that!  It comes from a gentle surrender to the will of the Father, which means an undisturbed resting in the Heart of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit helps us.  (How Trinitarian is that!)  Yes: true, authentic, restful, interior peace.  It can take a great search, but never ends unfulfilled.  For me, it could be my struggle with being attached to charges (work assignments at the monastery) and wondering how on earth I will manage to get it all done?  For the lay person, it could be the full time job, keeping up with bills, and night classes.  Fill in your own example.  In the end, you go to Sunday Mass with a distracted mind, and likewise affects the heart.  What do I still need to do today?  Agh!  We need to let go with true purity of heart.  It is time to get away.

During meditation, I have read in the Gospel passage where Jesus appears in the Upper Room after His resurrection.  What does He tell Thomas?  “Peace.  See My Hands and put your finger into My Side.”  There are many ways of looking at this scene.  Allow me to bring you through it, in the shoes of St. Thomas after the Resurrection of Our Lord, as we search for peace in the Heart of God.

                “Peace.”  Everything around you stops.  The Maker of time lets what overwhelms in it cease- even if for only a brief moment. 

Jesus calls us in the midst of our lives to be and to abide, in His peace.  Let Him address you by name.  Enter into His Divinity that calls you to His Heart.  “Come to Me all you who are weary, and I will refresh you.”

                Breathe.  Kneel before Him and hold His Hands.  He shows you the slits from the nails.  If you dare lower your eyes (like I tend to do with Him), you notice the holes in His Feet instead.  He gently raises your chin so as to see your eyes again.  Let Him repeat your name.  Nothing else around you should exist.  Return with His Name.  Then He says: “Come be with Me.” 

                I found another passage.  Reading this letter from St. Paul:

 “I want no more trouble from anybody after this; the marks on my body are those of Jesus.”  (Gal. 6:17)  Yes, touch them.  Feel them.  But also let Him impress them, live them on your own life.  Sounds like the stigmata, right?  But I mean in being Christ to others, and enduring all pains with Him.  You are not alone.  What do you see in His wounds?  These wounds that are pierced, cut open, but never intended to be “healed.”  He has no intention, nor can He be worn out in, of putting an end to His GREAT LOVE for us!  They are beyond imprint, for an imprint is only on the surface.  In meditating on this personally, I see compassion, gift of self, Love…  Do I bear these “signs,” this Proof?

                Come away to the open wounds of Christ.  They are redemptive, and His Way, Truth, and Life, is our peace.  As I am so often told of Him by the Sisters: Just Look at Me.

In His unconditional Love, He enables us, invites us, and practically urges us, to realize His burning Love for us as He places our fingers to rest upon, even to go into, His wounds.  He wants us to know unconditional Love, willing to suffer for us.  This personal Jesus, this Savior Who disregards no one.  He is not violent about it like me, as an impatient human, would be frustrated.  “For crying out loud, believe that I came looking for you, love me back!”  No!  He is very gentle.  “He knows that we are but dust.”