The Process to Inner Peace

One of my favorite Gospel stories is Jesus calming the storm on the sea. This story serves as a reminder that Jesus can calm the storms in our own hearts, bringing peace to the inner chaos, restlessness, anxiety, frustration, etc. that we often feel in our own lives. Recently, I’ve come to realize that I don’t need Jesus to only calm the storms; rather, I wish the inner storms weren't there in the first place. Of course, we will always face troubles in this world as Jesus Himself stated in John 16:33. However, He never told us that the storms in our hearts are a fact of life. In fact, just the contrary, we are promised inner peace through the Holy Spirit within us. So, isn’t it better to undo the cause of the storms in our own hearts?

So, what causes inner turmoil?

The medieval monk and mystic, Thomas à Kempis, explains that one of the primary reasons why we experience inner turmoil is because we have multiple desires in our hearts competing for our souls (“Imitation of Christ,” chapters XI and XIII). For example, the desires for financial security can compete against the desires for generosity; the desires for temporal happiness can compete against the desires for eternal holiness; the desires for extramarital intimacy can compete against the desires for matrimonial fidelity, etc.

Paul describes this battle, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15) James describes such a person as “double-minded and unstable in every way,” (James 1:7) in constant conflict because of our “cravings that are at war” within us (James 4:1).

Of course, Jesus wants to calm these inner storms. But more importantly, He desires to liberate us from our warring desires. How much more a life of peace can be lived when our passions are not at war against our souls!

Thus, the process to true inner peace is learning to die to self and living to Christ, by the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit. It’s learning to become self-aware and enlightened of those desires that seek worldly fulfillment in opposition to our heavenly reward and to say “no” to them. Desires stay alive when we feed them. Thus, starving our worldly desires and feeding our heavenly desires will ultimately result in a long life of inner peace. Feed heavenly desires like holiness, generosity, kindness, and faithfulness by doing them. Because the more we live out these desires, we will find ourselves starving fleshly ones. And one day, we will see in ourselves the true inner peace of Christ and His saints in light.