"Great peace have they that love Thy law." - Psalm 118"Great peace have they that love Thy law." - Psalm 118
To have this "great peace" of which David speaks, it is not sufficient for us to observe the law of God we must love and cherish it. To observe it, only through the fear of being lost if we transgress it or to observe it even because our salvation depends on its observance, is to think less of God than of our own interest; it is to obey the law as a slave or a mercenary. With such a disposition, which is very common amongst Christians, we cannot expect to have that full and abundant peace which is only promised to those who observe the law in a spirit of love. This spirit of love, which belongs to children, not slaves, teaches us to look upon God as our Father, to consider His law as a yoke infinitely sweet, His glory and the accomplishment of His holy will as the first of our desires, and the happiness of pleasing Him as our greatest advantage. This disposition does not entirely do away with the fear of hell and the desire of paradise, but it raises us above all self-interest, and leads us to serve God for a more perfect motive, as is proposed to us in the Lord's Prayer.
As soon as a soul, by a generous effort of love and a faithful correspondence with the attraction of grace, has made a firm resolution of refusing nothing to God, and of giving herself to Him for ever, to be and to do as He pleases in time and in eternity, from that moment God fills that soul with an ineffable peace, a peace that she never tasted before, a peace which satisfies her every desire, and which inspires her with a profound contempt for all the things of this world. This peace is the effect of the presence of God in the heart, and as long as we preserve this precious peace so long we may be sure of keeping ourselves in the presence of God. This peace is our consolation, our strength, and our adviser; it is the principle of our advancement. The deeper it becomes, the closer, the more immovable, the more inaccessible to all that could trouble it, so much the more shall we increase in perfection; in such a manner, that the height of this peace and the height of perfection are one and the same thing.
The whole secret of this, therefore, consists in preserving and increasing this peace amidst all the changes of the spiritual life. And here are a few rules for doing so.
The first rule is to enjoy this peace as we enjoy good health that is, without thinking about it. If anyone is continually feeling his pulse, to see if he is not very ill, he will soon end by becoming so. And in the same manner, we expose ourselves to the danger of losing our peace of soul if we pay too much attention to it and are always looking to see if we possess it. Sometimes also we confound real peace with the feeling of peace, and we think we have it no longer because we do not feel it. This is a great mistake. In the beginning of our spiritual life, this peace is generally accompanied by a most exquisite feeling, because then we are entering upon a state of which we have had no previous experience. But as time goes on, and we grow accustomed to this peace, the sweet and sensible feeling of it diminishes; and we may even at last lose it entirely, without the real peace of our soul suffering at all. On the contrary, that only becomes more solid and more perfect. Thus, a sick man, when he becomes convalescent, feels his strength and health returning to him. But when he is perfectly well again, he feels nothing at all. We must not then regret the feeling of peace, any more than the sick man regrets the feeling of returning health and strength when his convalescence is at an end.
The second rule is to do all our actions with the greatest simplicity, without thinking too much about them either while we are doing them or after they are done. All self-examination that is too anxious and troubled is contrary to peace. As long as our conscience reproaches us with nothing it is useless to interrogate it; we must only be very attentive when it does speak, and follow its suggestions. But when our conscience is silent, what is the use of asking ourselves continually: "Have I done well? Have I done ill? Did I have a good or a bad intention?" And so on. All this only serves to perplex the mind and to torment the soul.
The third rule is that every thought and every fear which is vague and general, and without any positive object, does not come from God or from our conscience, but from our imagination. We fear we have not said everything in confession, we fear we have expressed ourselves badly, we fear we did not have true contrition, we fear we have not the right dispositions to go to Holy Communion, and so on, with a thousand other vague fears with which we fatigue and torment ourselves. All this does not come from God. Whenever God reproaches a soul His reproaches have always a clear, precise, and determinate object, and we cannot mistake it. We must therefore despise all this kind of vague fears, and boldly pass them by.
The fourth rule is that God never troubles a soul that wishes sincerely to go straight to Him. He may warn her, He may even severely reprove her, but He will never trouble her; the soul will see her faults, she will repent of them, she will repair them, but all quite peacefully, quite calmly. If she is agitated and troubled, it is always the work either of her own imagination or of the devil, and she must do all she can to put this trouble away from her.
The fifth rule is that we must change absolutely nothing in our general conduct while we are in trouble. Thus our communions, our prayer, our spiritual reading, all our other pious exercises, must go on as usual. Then peace will most certainly return to us, and the devil will have gained nothing that he hoped to gain.
Finally, the great rule of all is to do everything by obedience, and never to allow ourselves anything against the known will of our director. When we are once thoroughly convinced that our director is guiding us, and is guided himself by the Spirit of God, there is no other course to take but to abide by his decisions as if they came to us from the mouth of God Himself. God never fails to give, and that for a sufficiently long time, proofs which may reassure the soul as to the wisdom and enlightenment of her guide. And after she has once had these proofs, it is to doubt God Himself if she still doubts and hesitates and fears.
Peace therefore is maintained by a great fidelity in listening to the voice of God, in obeying our director, and in never listening to self-love or our own imagination.
We must also never lose our peace of soul through the faults into which we fall. We must humble ourselves for them before God, we must repent of them, we must repair them, if possible, and then think no more about them. It is only from love of self when we go on troubling ourselves because we are always the same, and because we do not correct ourselves, and do not make any progress in virtue. We deceive ourselves if we think this trouble comes from humility. A soul that is truly humble is neither astonished or troubled at her falls.
- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou