Do you lack peace or are you dissatisfied?
Are you content?
These are two questions I was asked this past weekend by the dearest brothers of mine. Both will be ordained in May, God willing.
These questions have caused me to ponder just a bit more. What are these things?
Peace, according to St. Augustine, is "the tranquility of order". We often think of peace being the absence of war. Fulton Sheen has much to say about war, yet succinct and brief. "To the extent that we obey God's will , we are happy and at peace; to the extent that we freely disobey it, we hurt ourselves - and this consequence we call judgment." Oh. ("The frustration resulting from our disobedience to God's law is His judgement.")
Let me share more of the archbishop's words from Life is Worth Living.
"Wars come from egotism and selfishness. Every macrocosmic world war has its origin in microcosmic wars going on inside millions and millions of individuals..... The civil war on the inside is between what man thinks he is and what man actually is, between the way God made him and the way he made himself, between the moral law that ought to govern his life and selfishness that actually determines his actions. When civil wars are waged in the minds of men and women in the world, they produce psychoses, neuroses, fears and anxieties..."
"Nothing ever happens in the world that does not happen first inside human hearts."
So peace is when we are not at conflict with ourselves. I find if I am at peace, I'm so much more pleasant to be around. My poor roommate had to put up with me last week when I was at war with myself. God Bless her for loving me before, during and still.
Satisfaction, defined when browsing online, means: fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this. I did not find this word in the index of the Catechism, but we speak much of how we will never be fully satisfied in this world, knowing that God made us for Himself and we are restless until we rest in him. (Augustine, again.) Here is another statement that highlights our lack of satisfaction on this earth: "Nothing in this world will answer all your questions, solve all your problems, or satisfy all your desires. These are impossible, immature ambitions, and the spiritual life consists largely in realizing that they are impossible and immature." Aight. I got it, I think. Until I forget it tomorrow.
Can we be unsatisfied, but at peace? Absolutely. But really, when we sense our lack of satisfaction, it should not cause us to lose peace, faith or hope.
Content: in a state of peaceful happiness. Hmm.
When I was asked if I was content on Saturday, I had to answer no. I was not content. Another dear brother of mine once wrote to me on a note during adoration, "Joy is a choice, dear sister." And related-ly, so is happiness. The cliche goes: "Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have." The cure for this is gratitude. Count your blessings, or at least try. Can you generate a gratitude list of 100 or more items? At the Steubenville Encounter conference a few weeks ago, I attended the breakout session on "Balance our obsession with perfectionism," the priest giving the talk gave us a spiritual exercise in which we were to:
a) tell Jesus where we are weak (4)
b) tell Jesus what we are fearful of (4)
c) tell Jesus one thing (or two) that we would like to change about ourselves or our lives
and finally
d) tell Jesus our blessings (10+).
Gratitude helps us to remain at peace and gives perspective to an otherwise seemingly harsh world.
So surely, of what matters of the above, peace, satisfaction or contentedness, it really boils down to peace. Don't let the devil steal your peace. He's going to try and he'll be a bully about it. Fight him for it. It's worth it.
In a cold world, It's a warm place, where you know that you're supposed to be. :)
Happy Advent. I'm waiting, Lord. I'm waiting.
