What is one of the most important goals for the Christian striving to do God's will? ALWAYS maintain peace of soul. We all desperately need it, but how many are willing to do the hard work to achieve it.
The first step in examining anything is to understand what it is. So what exactly is peace of soul? When I have a question about faith, I often turn to Fr. John Hardon, that holy Jesuit who went to his eternal reward in 2000. I'll offer some of his insights from a sermon on Peace of Soul:
What is peace? Peace may be simply defined as harmony. When there is harmony between two people, we say they are at peace—call this social peace. When there is harmony between nations, we say they are at peace—call this international peace. When there is harmony between God and man, we say the person is at peace—call this religious peace....
Our concern here is not with social peace nor with international peace but with the peace that exists or should exist between God and man, religious peace.What does it mean to be at peace with God, to be at harmony with Him and, as a consequence, enjoy His peace? Peace we experience; harmony is what we have to do or achieve to get the experience. To be at peace with God means to do the Will of God. We are touching on a profound mystery, a mystery that we cannot fully explain; but we have to admit that our wills are not necessarily in agreement with the Will of God. Unlike the rest of creation that has no freedom, we who are free can be freely at variance with God.
And this is the answer to the question of those who ask how a good God can allow evil. BECAUSE HE LOVES US AND WANTS US TO FREELY LOVE HIM IN RETURN! He will never coerce us. He allows us to choose evil and, if we allow Him, will bring good out of it. But do we? Often not, and it all comes to the blessed gift of FREE WILL. Fr. Hardon explains:
We have desires and impulses that follow their own logic and that seek their own satisfaction, often, as we know, at variance with the Will of God. We desire to be healthy and strong, but we are ill or unhealthy and weak, and it is clearly God’s Will that we be ill or incapacitated. We desire to be accepted by other, to be respected by them, in fact, by everyone who enters our lives; yet, obviously, we are not getting the acceptance we desire or the respect we long for. So what do we do, make our lives miserable?
We desire to have our ideas or ways of doing things followed. We want people to listen to us when we speak. One of the hardest things to take is to have someone fall asleep while we are talking—how well I know! Objections we would not mind, even strong, violent reactions, disagreement—but not sleep! We want people to be interested in what interests us, to show by their words and actions that we mean something in their lives.
This made me laugh. I was once on retreat with Fr. Hardon and saw this happen. A man fell asleep during a conference. Indeed, Father was annoyed and told those next to the man to wake him up.
But we have learned that we are often disappointed and as a result discouraged, because what we want it appears God does not always also want. Above all, we want to be loved by others, to be well-thought-of by them, to be well-spoken-of by them. Our heart is hungry for human affection and is thirsty for human kindness. Yet how often and in how many ways these deep felt desires are not satisfied. Not satisfied! Sometimes they are cruelly denied.
I think we've all experienced this. Haven't we all lost friends? But the blessing of such experiences is to recognize that the love that never fails comes only from God. When we experience rejection, the best resting place is in the quiet and blessed comfort of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
If we are to be at peace, as faith and reason itself tell us we have a right to expect, we must come to terms with these desires of ours. We must tell our desires in effect, “Look here. I know what you want and I appreciate your urging me to get it. But if I am to be at peace, before I give in to what you are telling me to get because I like it, or to get rid of because I dislike it, I must first find out if this is the Will of the Lord.” In a word, we must tell our desires to wait until we consult God. If God wants us to have something, then, after having consulted Him, we will seek it. If He wants us to dispose of something, after having consulted Him, we will be rid of it. Otherwise—and what a sad otherwise—we may get what we want or be rid of what we do not want, but we will not be at peace. And here no creature has a choice. “Who has ever resisted your Will, O Lord, and been at peace? Asks the inspired writer. And he does not have to give us an answer to his own question, because we all know the answer—“No one.”
The promise of Christ. Christ our Lord promised us His peace. He told us not to be troubled nor to be afraid. This is a command! We are forbidden to be worried or anxious. It is a divine prohibition; we are commanded to be at peace, and by now we know a thousand reasons to be the contrary. You explain this one—there is some mysterious center in the human will whereby man will actually want what even though he knows perfectly well he will not be at peace....
We must, then, be ready to accept whatever God wants in our lives, not what we want, not what the world wants. And secondly, we must be ready to sacrifice whatever God wants us to give up in our lives. On no other conditions shall we enjoy His peace. As we know from the lives of the saints, this peace surpasses all understanding.
Today I want to accept every single thing as coming from the will of God. I want to be grateful for what pleases me and what creates disappointment or anxiety or irritation. Thank you for everything, Lord. It doesn't matter whether I feel grateful. Love is not a feeling, but an action. So I want to say thank you for burnt toast, insulting words from a blog commenter, and the disappointment of not receiving a hoped for phone call. Whatever the day brings I want to say thank you to God for everything. One prayer I know God always answers with a Yes, is the prayer for the grace to desire to do His will. I know what His will is -- to accept every single thing in my life as coming from Him.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine!
Funny how conservative trad pedophile absolver Hardon is that holy jesuit, but liberal vc2 McCarrick et al are "the horror that continues": "Other documents that have emerged in the criminal and civil cases involving McGuire could affect the sainthood prospects of another deceased religious leader eyed by the Vatican for sainthood. Among the newly uncovered church records are letters by Rev. John Hardon, a Jesuit who also worked extensively with Mother Teresa and died in 2000. He collaborated with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a landmark summation of contemporary church doctrine. In 2005, the Vatican opened a formal inquiry into whether Hardon should be made a saint.
ReplyDelete"But statements by Hardon in his letters could complicate that process. The documents reveal McGuire admitted to Hardon that he was taking showers with the teenage boy from Walnut Creek whose complaint led to McGuire's psychiatric treatment. He also acknowledged soliciting body massages from the boy and letting him read pornography in the room they shared on trips together.
Despite these admissions, Hardon concluded that his fellow Jesuit's actions were "objectively defensible," albeit "highly imprudent," and told McGuire's bosses that he "should be prudently allowed to engage in priestly ministry."
The postulators, or Vatican-appointed researchers and advocates for sainthood, assigned to investigate Mother Teresa and Hardon did not respond to repeated requests for comment...The situation is aggravated since McGuire went on to abuse more children after suggestions to return him to ministry were heeded.
We're talking about extremely powerful people who could have gotten Father McGuire off the streets in 1994," said Patrick Wall, a lawyer and former Benedictine monk who performs investigations on behalf of abuse victims suing the Catholic Church. "I'm thinking of all those post-'94 kids who could have been saved."
...If Mother Teresa did write the letter to Schaeffer, it is unclear how much she learned about the circumstances under which McGuire was disciplined. The letter states, "During his recent visit to Calcutta in the past month, Fr. John Hardon, S.J., brought a letter to me from Fr. McGuire, describing the sad events which took him from his priestly ministry these past seven months. Fr. Hardon explained ... how he had established Father's INNOCENCE of the allegations against him. Father Hardon said that Fr. McGuire admitted imprudence in his behavior."
.. He also concluded that another serious charge against McGuire, that the priest had violated the seal of confession by disclosing private information about the boy during an argument with his father, was unfounded...
Documents that have emerged in the criminal prosecution of McGuire and civil litigation against the Jesuits over his actions show that suspicions about the priest were brought to his higher-ups beginning soon after his ordination in 1961. During his first teaching assignment, at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., he molested at least two boys, whose cases led to his first criminal conviction decades later.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2012/01_02/2012_01_11_Jamison_TaintedSaint.htm
I was unaware of the McGuire case and Fr. Hardon's involvement. It's certainly a cause for personl sorrow since I attended several of Fr. Hardon's retreats and received advice from him occasionally. Phil Lawler has a very balanced article at Catholic Culture about the case. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/abuse-scandal-casts-shadow-on-candidate-for-beatification/
DeleteI met Fr Hardon in '94 at the Home school Leaders conference. He sat across from me in a room filled with Catholic homeschooling mothers from various states. We were discussing Fr Stravinskas' and Sister Dudick's latest plan to forbid the Sacraments to home schooled children UNLESS they us the Diocesan recommended Catechisms and ONLY these in order to qualify for reception of the sacraments. You will recall 'Christ Among Us ' , which later was condemned by the Vatican?
DeleteFr Hardon told us to go to our Bishops and I reminded him, "With all due respect Father ,some of us have already done that with no success concerning the sex education in our Catholic schools."
Fr Hardon turned very red and cast his eyes down but never offered a solution.........meanwhile, a lovely older lady from Missouri came over and whispered to me, God Bless you for telling him the truth."
Mary Kay Clark could see he was embarrassed so she tried to smooth and ruffled feathers by saying something about older ladies here have already gone to their Bishops.
It's a hard bias to get over -- the belief that someone is NOT an abuser.
ReplyDeleteI think many of us have learned the hard way that there are red flags and those red flags mean something.
Orthodoxy is a great cover. I knew several homosexual priests who thought using censors and holy water fooled everyone. And then there are priests like Fr. Jackson -- so hard to think someone could put on such an act. On the other hand maybe it wasn't an act, but a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Delete"a person can be too attached to his own family. One can see that easily in those who bless their children's mortally sinful behavior to keep the peace. They affirm sodomy, abortion, shacking up, etc. in order to maintain the good opinion of their children."
ReplyDeletehttps://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-prescription-for-peace-of-soul-from.html#more
You state it's "to keep the peace" or "to maintain the good opinion of their children," but it could be that they love/attached to their children more than God. They choose their children over God; I'd rather go to hell with my child than to heaven with God (blame God for allowing it to happen). Many think they are being merciful (like God would in the same circumstance)/non-judgmental (like the Bible says), don't want to make the situation worse/lose any influence they have with their children. But also I think people tend to minimize or make excuses for their own sins and for those to whom they are attached: family/friends/ clergy/politicians/country.
I think many clergy especially those in orders regard their order as their family which is why they may circle the wagons--their sympathy is with their brother and also want to protect their order (family)--and, of course, the Church to a lesser/greater extent. Most of these abuser priests have come to light because they were serial molesters. Usually if it is only one accuser no-one believes the accuser especially the more well known/famous the priest (and yet usually it is these well known/famous priests who are most guilty) or how honest you believe the person close to you to be. Also as long as it is "romantic" vs "lustful" and only happens once (or a "few" times (?)) none of these priests seem to regard it as that serious an issue. It must be far more common than is generally assumed for Groeschel to further float (and register publish) that priest shortage due to screening for pedophiles and indicate that no-one regarded it as a crime until recently (though he does surmise it may have been to protect the victim and the family, that families didn't report to police but only to church authorities). Maybe have to be a man to understand how they think, but as even they accept/make excuses for their fellow confreres, easy to see how parents/families do the same for their children/family members in these sins of the 'heart.'
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/what-happened-ncregisters-controversial-interview-fr-benedict-groeschel
https://www.cal-catholic.com/i-deeply-regret-any-harm-i-have-caused/