"My Son, I have said, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives give I unto you.
All men desire peace, but all do not care for the things which belong unto true peace. My peace is with the humble and lowly in heart. Your peace shall be in much patience.
If you heardest Me, and did follow My voice, you shouldest enjoy much peace."
What a benefit we have — peace of heart and true profit. Yesterday I saw on TV a woman treating Pope Leo with disrespect, and his response was peace and love towards her.
Kempis quotes Jesus directly — John 14:27 — and then adds the condition the world ignores: all men desire peace, but all do not care for the things which belong unto true peace. Everyone wants peace. The question is whether anyone wants what peace requires: the humility, the lowliness, the much patience, the hearing and following.
Not as the world gives give I unto you. The world's peace is the absence of conflict. God's peace is something altogether different — it is His presence inside the conflict. The two are not the same. The world's peace vanishes the moment the conflict returns. God's peace endures precisely where the conflict is fiercest.
Le saw this lived in real time. Pope Leo — treated with disrespect by a woman on television — responded with peace and love. That is not the world's peace. The world's response would have been defense, anger, or withdrawal. The Pope's response was Kempis's teaching in the flesh: the humble and lowly heart, at peace, in the midst of insult. The peace did not depend on the woman's behavior. It depended on the Giver.
In everything take heed to yourself what you doest, and what you sayest; and direct all your purpose to this, that you please Me alone, and desire or seek nothing apart from Me.
But, moreover, judge nothing rashly concerning the words or deeds of others, nor meddle with matters which are not committed to you; and it may be that you shall be disturbed little or rarely.
Yet never to feel any disquiet, nor to suffer any pain of heart or body, this belongeth not to the present life, but is the state of eternal rest. Therefore count not yourself to have found true peace, if you have felt no grief; nor that then all is well if you have no adversary; nor that this is perfect if all things fall out according to your desire.
Nor then reckon yourself to be anything great, or think that you are specially beloved, if you are in a state of great fervour and sweetness of spirit; for not by these things is the true lover of virtue known, nor in them does the profit and perfection of man consist.
Kempis dismantles every false measure of peace, one by one:
Count not yourself to have found true peace if you have felt no grief. The absence of grief is not peace. It may be numbness. True peace exists in the presence of grief — not despite it.
Nor that all is well if you have no adversary. The absence of opposition is not health. The soul with no adversary may simply be a soul nobody is challenging.
Nor that this is perfect if all things fall out according to your desire. Getting what you want is not perfection. It is comfort. And comfort is not the goal.
Nor reckon yourself anything great if you are in a state of great fervour and sweetness of spirit. This is the measure that matters most for this journal. The fervour is real. The sweetness is real. The burning heart is real. But Kempis says plainly: these are not the measure of the true lover of virtue. The profit and perfection do not consist in the sweetness. They consist in what remains when the sweetness withdraws — the patience in the grief, the humility in the adversity, the peace that holds when things do not fall out according to desire.
✦ The Presence Inside the Disquiet
Never to feel any disquiet belongs not to the present life, but to the state of eternal rest. This life will always have disquiet. Always. The pilgrimage through France will have disquiet. The house search in Brittany will have disquiet. The packing in Portugal will have disquiet. The mornings — whether at dawn or at 9:30 — will sometimes be heavy instead of sweet. This belongs to the present life. The complete absence of disquiet belongs to eternity. Not here. Not yet.
But the peace of Christ is not the removal of the disquiet. It is His presence inside it. The Pope standing before the disrespectful woman — peaceful, loving, unhurried — is the picture of the peace Kempis describes. Not the absence of the insult. The presence of Christ in the midst of the insult. Not the absence of the storm. The presence of the Lord of the storm, asleep in the boat, undisturbed. Mark 4:38.
And the instruction that frames the whole passage: direct all your purpose to this, that you please Me alone, and desire or seek nothing apart from Me. The single purpose. The undivided heart. The soul that pleases Him alone is not disturbed by the opinions of others — because there is only one opinion that matters. Judge nothing rashly. Meddle not with matters not committed to you. Yesterday's teaching on the curious inquiry, continued today into the territory of peace. The soul that minds her own walk — humbly, patiently, with her purpose directed to Him alone — she shall be disturbed little or rarely.
Twenty-seven days of Kempis. One hundred and six entries. From Caldas da Rainha to Beauvoir, at the doorstep of Mont-Saint-Michel — the abbey built on a rock in the sea, standing for a thousand years against the tides. The peace of God is the rock. The disquiet is the tide. And the rock does not move. 🙏
"This life will always have disquiet. The peace of Christ is not the removal of the disquiet. It is His presence inside it."
Thomas à Kempis · Beauvoir · Twenty-seven days · The rock does not moveNot as the World Gives
The world's peace is the absence of conflict. God's peace is His presence inside the conflict. Everyone wants peace. Few care for what peace costs — humility, lowliness, much patience.
Pope Leo's Response
Treated with disrespect, he responded with peace and love. Not the world's response. Kempis's teaching lived in real time. The peace did not depend on the woman's behavior — it depended on the Giver.
Four False Measures
No grief is not peace. No adversary is not health. Getting your desire is not perfection. Great fervour is not the measure. The true lover of virtue is known by what remains when the sweetness withdraws.
The Rock and the Tide
This life will always have disquiet. The complete absence belongs to eternity. The peace of God is the rock. The disquiet is the tide. And the rock does not move.