gitated and restless, modern man is traveling along a path that will lead, not to lasting happiness, but to despair. Never before have men felt so deeply the feeling of futility amidst a world utterly plunged in confusion and upheaval. Nothing on earth has been able to give peace or security. Flinging himself upon exterior things, as if they could satisfy his inner thirst for fulfillment and purpose, a man does more harm to himself by neglecting the interior life of his soul than if the whole world and all its armies were against him. He remains preoccupied with trifles almost all of his life because these act as a drug, numbing his spirit and deadening the pain that would be his by reflecting upon the true state of his soul in the sight of God. What he does not fully understand, or care to realize, is that all pleasure is fleeting and unsatisfying and should merely bring home to the soul this vital truth – that only in God will he find the satisfaction his soul craves. Repose of mind, profound joy, and solid contentment are found only in the Kingdom of God, within the soul. The more deeply one enters this Kingdom and becomes united with God, the more happy one shall be. Only then shall one feel true security and possess that peace that surpasses understanding, which the world cannot give or take away.

he saints, those who have given up everything that they might possess God entirely, they are the truly happy ones. But the tragedy is that most men are willing to forgo true happiness if only they can have a little amusement. They would rather have pleasure than joy. And their pleasure ends up making them sick. And in the long run, they suffer far more than the loss of all things for Christ.

rue peace and interior security are given by God to those who dispose their souls to receive it by sincere prayer and self-renunciation. Peace will not be attained by conquering others but by conquering oneself. We should study these words of wisdom from The Imitation of Christ: "We might have much peace if we would not busy ourselves with the sayings and doings of others and with things which belong not to us. How can he remain long in peace who entangles himself with other people's cares, who seeks occasions abroad, and who is little or seldom inwardly recollected? Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. What was the reason why some of the saints were so perfect and contemplative? Because they made it their study wholly to mortify in themselves all earthly desires; and thus they were enabled, with every fibre of the heart, to cleave to God, and freely to attend to themselves. We are too much taken up with our own passions, and too solicitious about transitory things...If we were perfectly dead to ourselves, and in no way entangled in our interior, then might we be able to relish things divine and experience something of heavenly contemplation."

t is a tragedy that there are people who, in the name of religion, sow nothing but discord, dissent, argument and controvery, unrest, sadness, and hatred. Their warped and depressing Catholcism destroys consciences and rips apart families. Instead of doing penance for their own sins and for others, some even seem to derive a sick satisfaction in judging and consigning others to perdition. The zeal that burns in their hearts is not the fire of Divine Love but of Hell itself. Such modern Pharisees cannot bring others to true peace with God since they themselves have not known the serenity of a soul that sincerely seeks the Prince of Peace.

rom The Imitation of Christ: “Keep thyself first in peace and then thou wilt be able to bring others to peace. A peaceful man does more good than one that is very learned. He that is in perfect peace suspects no man, but he that is discontented and disturbed is tossed about with various suspicions; he is neither quiet himself nor does he suffer others to be quiet…He considers what others are obliged to do, and neglects that to which he himself is obliged. Have, therefore, a zeal in the first place over thyself, and then thou mayst justly exercise thy zeal towards thy neighbor…Thou knowest well enough how to excuse and color thy own doings, and thou wilt not take the excuses of others. It were more just thou shouldst accuse thyself and excuse thy brother…See how far thou art yet from true charity and humility, which knows not how to be angry with any one, or to have indignation against any one but one’s self…There are some that are neither at peace within themselves, nor suffer others to be in peace; they are troublesome to others, but always more troublesome to themselves. And some there are who keep themselves in peace and study to restore peace to others…He who knows how to suffer will enjoy much peace. Such a one is a conqueror of himself and lord of the world, a friend of Christ, and an heir of heaven.”

eace and liberty of soul become firmly established in the monk’s heart because his daily life completely revolves around the praise and adoration of God. Peace, said St. Augustine, is the tranquility of order. Since the monastic life is a life wholly dedicated to the service of God, it is no wonder that to those whom He calls to this life and who generously give themselves to it, God gives a deep peace of soul and a very real joy. But the monastic life is not a running away from the burdens that weigh upon the children of men nor a cowardly escape from the spiritual battle that rages amongst the few left in the world struggling to remain faithful to Almighty God. The truth is, the contemplative is on the front lines of this battle.

he monk enters into a kind of war greater than any conflict between nations, in which the enemy fought is not without but rather within his own soul. Slowly he begins to see every htmect of life from the viewpoint of God’s love and of the eternal consequences for his soul. He realizes that life’s purpose is not self-gratification but spiritual purification and that union with God is attained not by merely adopting the routine of the monastery and donning the monastic robes, but by inner change. Hidden deep within the heart lies the crippling selfishness and little attachments that hinder one from enjoying that profound interior freedom of soul where the love of God reigns supreme. But this spiritual transformation will only be found in accepting, with love, the cross of Christ.

f a soul is to enter the kingdom of God it must become as a little child with God, humble and completely trusting in His loving care. The whole point of surrender to God is that we blindly throw ourselves upon Him. But there is no guarantee that one shall feel oneself upheld by Him. One may even seem to have thrown oneself upon nothing and be falling through space. Yet the soul must believe that it is supported without any feeling of it. Nothing is more pleasing to God than unshaken confidence in Him, especially when one feels nothing but dryness, distaste, weariness, uncertainty, anxiety and anguish of soul. It is by enduring all for the love of Christ that interior peace becomes unshakeable. Yet this peace is often an unfelt peace, a peace in knowing that behind all the clouds, above all the storms, God is there.