At peace in all things

Beginning in January 2018 (hard to believe that was 6 years ago), after New Year's, the evening before we have to get back to what is usually called "real life," quite spontaneously I posted something from the spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ.

On 3 January 2018, I was up late, unable to sleep, due to anxiety and the restlessness that usually accompanies it. As I was eagerly seeking something to help relieve my anxiety, I found a website featuring Thomas á Kempis' classic spiritual text. After reading a fair amount of The Imitation of Christ that night. And then, compsoed a post of nothing but the passage I found helpful for me in that moment.

While I can't say I've done this every year since 2018, it is my intention to continue this tradition today. For many of us, "real life" after the Christmas respite starts tomorrow, 2 January. Not just the last day of holiday but very often the end of a weekend can be disconcerting. What we need is peace, to have peace, to cultivate peace, to maintain peace:

A good life makes a man wise according to God and gives him experience in many things, for the more humble he is and the more subject to God, the wiser and the more at peace he will be in all things (The Imitation of Christ, Book I Chapter 4)

Happiness, understood as joy, which is a fruit of hope, is what we all want and strive for. Peace is important, even a precondition, for joy. During the Last Supper Discourse in Saint John's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples- "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (John 14:27).

And so, as you begin 2024 in earnest tommorrow, may the peace of Christ be with you.