The Path To Inner Peace

Credit:  http://lorichristian.com/peace.html

The world is completely upside down and backwards, and it is so hard to know what or whom to trust. Evil is growing every day. Here in the United States, to be a Christian is to be an outcast of society. We are condemned because we do not support the homosexual lifestyle. Mainstream society throws labels at us like hateful and bigot. We are condemned because we do not support the willful killing of unborn children. We are condemned because we put God first in our lives instead of political correctness. Our society has become so anti-God that they will condemn just the mention of His Name. Recently, a teenager was suspended from class for saying "Bless you" to another student who had sneezed, and this has now become a freedom of religion and freedom of speech issue [HERE].

In other parts of the world, Christians are being murdered by the thousands simply because of what they believe.  And the rest of the world stands by watching and basically doing nothing.  Christians have become the lepers of the world, shoved out of society, hunted down and literally killed.  

In yesterday's Divine Office, the concluding prayer of Midday Prayer touched me very deeply and helped me to realize what we must do to keep our sanity and stand against the hatred and persecution we face from others and from the disorientation caused by all of the conflicting voices that we hear.

"O God,
who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose,
grant your people to love what you command,
and to desire what you promise,
that, amid the uncertainties of this world,
our hearts may be fixed on that place
where true gladness is found.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.
Amen."

We will only survive if we keep our hearts and minds fixed completely on Our Lord. We should not even trust ourselves. And where is Christ to be found?  Where is that one Voice that will never lead us astray?  He is in His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church. Our Lord has given us His Church as a beacon in a world full of darkness. To be united to His Church is to be united to Christ. To be separated from the church is to be separated from the King of Peace, the Giver of Life.

The more the world persecutes us, the more they need us to stand firm in our faith. Persecution has always made the church stronger. As Tertullian wrote in the second century when the Church was under intense persecution, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Killing us only makes us stronger.

Don't let anyone or anything separate you from His Church. Shut out all of the harsh raucous voices. Cling to Holy Mother Church "that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found."