Jesus is My Peace: A Spiritual Exercise for Inner Peace

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts not be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

Do you want inner peace? Do you really desire to be free from fear and anxiety in your life and experience true serenity? Do you long for the tranquility of order in your mind and heart? In my last article, I put forth the idea that the first step to inner peace is accepting the following three truths: (1) inner peace cannot be attained on your own; (2) only God can give you inner peace; (3) God desires to give you inner peace because He loves you.

In this spiritual exercise, I invite you to take some time with God and meditate on these three life-changing truths. Try to find a quiet place to spend some quality time thinking about these truths in God’s holy and loving presence. The location for this time could be a small yet meaningful prayer corner in your house. It could be on a walk in nature. It could be when you are stuck in traffic or traveling on the bus or train.

God is at least spiritually present to you in all places and at all times. Perhaps your prayer location could be close to Jesus really present in the Blessed Sacrament. You could intimately encounter Our Blessed Lord’s real and physical Eucharistic presence located in the tabernacle of a quiet Catholic church. Whatever the location, remember that God is truly with you and desires to spend this holy time with you.

Once you decide on your prayer location, I invite you to get comfortable and give yourself permission to be quiet. God is asking you to be still with Him. He gently looks at you with unconditional love, and says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Ask God to help you be still, and do not worry at all if you find this spiritual exercise extremely difficult. God is with you and knows that you are at least trying. Simply be with God as you are. He does not ask for perfection in prayer, but only faithfulness.

Show up. Talk to God like He is your best friend. He accepts you, right now, just as you are. Just be with Him even if your fear and worries are great and numerous. God’s limitless love for you will somehow shine through all your distractions and difficulties. Be with God and with Him think deeply about the following three truths.

(1) Inner peace cannot be attained on your own. No matter how hard you try, lasting peace cannot be found in the things of the world. Acquiring power, prestige, possessions, and pleasures in this world provide only a temporary kind of peace that eventually fades and leaves you desolate.

Turning to human help in your quest for inner peace can certainly be a good and praiseworthy thing. Physical or psychological assistance from medical professionals is sometimes required in the journey to inner peace. Spiritual help from others can also be very important. In fact, some spiritually gifted individuals can brilliantly guide you in the right direction toward inner peace. This is why a trusted Catholic spiritual director can be an invaluable resource as you search for lasting peace.

However, even the very best spiritual director is a fallen and finite creature who cannot personally give you the enduring peace that you desperately crave. Human nature on its own is simply too weak to give or attain inner peace. Therefore, you must have a healthy and realistic understanding regarding the limitations inherent in yourself and others when it comes to finding inner peace.

(2) Only God can give you inner peace. Archbishop Fulton Sheen was utterly convinced of this truth. In Sheen’s Peace of Soul, the prolific theologian and masterful director of souls maintains that inner peace “cannot come from the person, any more than the person can lift himself by his own ears. Help must come from without; it must not be merely human help, but Divine help.”

Inner peace that prevails even in the most treacherous storms of your life can only come from God because He is the only one who is infinitely peaceful by nature. Indeed, the “LORD is peace” (Judges 6:24) and so only He can give you His peace, that is the peace that “passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Jesus, who is God in human flesh, tells you that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The true serenity that you so desire is a gratuitous gift that comes from God alone.

(3) God desires to give you inner peace because He loves you. The God of the universe wants to give you “peace at all times in all ways” (2 Thessalonians 3:16) because He loves you personally! He loves you with an unrelenting, overwhelming, and never-ending love. God wants you to realize and deeply cherish the truth that you are His precious child and He is your loving Father and Friend. Please let this remarkable and comforting truth sink deep into the depths of your heart.

God really loves you as His precious child in this present moment. He loves you and accepts you as you are. He loves you not for what you have done, but for who you are. You do not have to earn His love, for He already loves you before you even begin to love Him back. He is looking at you right now and says, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:4).

You were made so that God could love you as His beloved child. His love can absorb the fear and worry present in your heart and leave a trail of peace and joy in its wake. Your Heavenly Father says, “Peace be to you; do not fear" (Judges 6:23). God wants you to know that He loves you and really does want you to enjoy true inner peace. What a Father and Friend we have in God!

This brings us to the end of our short meditation. I invite you to go back and prayerfully embrace the following three truths whenever you feel overwhelmed by fear and anxiety: (1) inner peace cannot be attained on your own; (2) only God can give you inner peace; (3) God desires to give you inner peace because He loves you.

Above all, please remember that God loves you personally every single moment of the day. Jesus says, “Come to me; all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-29). He invites you to come to Him. He is looking directly at you with a tender and everlasting love. Please listen to the gentle and loving call of the Good Shepherd. Turn to Him. Go to Jesus and let Him take care of you. Let Jesus hold you in His holy and loving presence. 

Jesus is the only way to your inner peace. The details of what this all means are not so important right now and they can certainly be fleshed out later. What is important now, this very moment, is that you embrace the truth that Jesus knows and loves you personally, and that He alone is the only way to your inner peace. Jesus knows your name and everything about you. Jesus wants you to have His peace. In fact, He is your peace. He is my peace. Jesus is “our peace” (Ephesians 4:14). Amen.