Peace comes from these two simple points to remember;
1) Everything
that happens in every moment is either God’s Perfect Will or His Permissive
Will;
2) Those
things are directed to a higher good, a higher good purpose.
Garrigou-Lagrange quotes St. Francis de Sales:
“Every moment come to
us pregnant with a command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity,
there to remain forever what we have made it.”
Wisdom leads to peace, the author assures us all. As we have
all been given wisdom in the sacrament of Confirmation, only sin keeps this
gift from blossoming.
Actual grace is like air when we come up from swimming,
state Garrigou-Lagrange. We swim and breathe; we act and receive grace.
It is our duty to take advantage of these breaths of air,
these graces and not pass these up.
The author writes, “The more the heart loves, the more it
desires; and the more it desires, so much the more will it receive. The will of
God presents itself to us at each moment as an immense ocean that no human
heart can fathom; but what the heart can receive form this ocean is equal to
the measure of our faith, confidence and love.”
As I have written before on this blog, sadly, I know people
who have never experienced either human love not have they perceived God’s
love. Their perceptions are blinded by hurt, deception, self-will. They what
want they want and pursue their wants madly, ignoring what they need. They are sometimes afraid to love and be
loved, as they are afraid that if someone gets to know them intimately, they
will be despised, or abandoned. They trust neither God nor men. They have no
idea of abandoning themselves to God’s “adorable will.”
It seems to me that the vast majority of people live in
fear, especially the fear of not being forgiven, or loved.
It all has been done already, on the Cross.
