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My Peace I Give You
On Wednesday a few guys, including myself, went over and did some exercising in the gym at Marian. I am lucky enough to not have classes until 9:30 or 10:00 each day, so I tagged along with them and forced myself to do some exercising. We got there around 8:00 AM and I started looking for a machine to use (there is a rather large assortment of machines). I didn't really want to use the treadmill primarily because it is boring, so I took a cue from one of the other guys and went for a stationary bicycle. Of course, I didn't want take the one right next to him, that's just kind of awkward, and I didn't want to take one of the ones that is super cushy, with a huge seat and straight up and down position, so I went for the third and final kind of bike which turned out to be the elite, racing-style bike, forward swept handle-bars and all. I didn't really mind the different position, whenever I'm riding my (more typically shaped bike) I tend to lean forward rather than sit straight up anyway, so I figured it would work just fine.
Well, it did, sort of. There were only two buttons - mode and reset - which neither seemed to turn it on, but thankfully, after hopping onto it and pedaling, the display fired right up. Victory! Now, I usually don't require much in the way of data or metrics, but I do expect the basics, which this machine apparently didn't give. I flipped through all two pages of the display and it didn't show either time or distance, though it showed cadence, kila-joules, and watts. Hmm, not very useful to me... Anyway, I kept pumping away at the machine, twisting this little knob under the handlebars that made things harder or easier (and made the numbers get bigger or grow faster or get smaller and grow slower respectively). As you can probably tell, I didn't really know what I was doing, but I kept at it either way and after several minutes of hard effort made it to the incredible accomplishment of 100 kila-joules (with a peak power output of over 300 watts)! I still have no idea what those numbers mean, but I'm sure they are spectacular... (maybe not...)
OK, continuing the story - I promise I'll get to something important eventually - I decided after biking for a little while that I had had enough of that, so I moved over to the treadmills. Again there were a lot of options, but I ended up picking one that larger (which usually means that it can go faster) and had a bigger display (no more goofy telemetry). Anyway, I got onto it and it asked me for my weight, so I hit select, which apparently wasn't the button to hit because it skipped to the next screen, where it asked me to choose an exercise type. I looked at the buttons and found that I could choose between fat burn, cardio, hill reps, and speed reps. I thought briefly about my options and went with the hill reps - I figured that I could choose a speed and then it would automatically make the grade go up and down - sort of like the real world. It then asked for a difficulty level - some number from 1 to 10 - so I chose something on the higher end and hit start. Off it went - at 1% incline and .5 mph... Well, that wasn't quite fast enough (to say the least), so I pushed the increase speed button and then pushed it again, and again, and again. Unfortunately, it beeped every time it went up an increment in speed, so after a lot of beeping I was cruising along at 8 mph and a few percent incline. Alright, thought I, time for some exercise.
I glanced up to the TV (which was right in front of me) and saw that they were showing some replays of basketball games. I don't really watch basketball, but it was better than watching the wall, so I started watching the game. Wham! The incline went up to 4% (which was pretty high for me) and 5 mph (which is barely faster than a walk, in other words, slow) - alright, I increased the speed up to where I wanted it and settled back into my run. Wham! Again the incline changed, and again the speed dropped. I pushed it back to where I wanted it - less incline, more speed - and continued my run. Well, as you probably could guess, it did it again - but this time the incline went up to 12% at which point I nearly fell off the treadmill because I wasn't expecting it, and again, the speed reset to whatever it wanted. Alright, enough of that, I switched to speed-rep mode, expecting it to go with whatever speed I set and then bump up a bit every so often from there. I was wrong again, because it just kept resetting the speed to 5 mph, then 5.5 mph, then 7 mph, then 6 mph, etc. After another minute of wrestling with this I hit stop (I had done 1 mile in 8 minutes) and looked for manual mode. I did eventually find it and did another 12 minutes of running - this time with myself controlling everything - and finished with a total of 2.6 miles in 20 minutes. I would have gone further but the constantly changing speed (and loss of momentum) had burnt me out.
So, what was the point of these stories. Well, first of all, I wanted to share something that happened to me that was pretty funny, but I am also hoping to be able to apply the story to a topic from the faith. I know I am new at this, so hopefully this example isn't really cheesy, but the real subject of this post is peace. Often times - like that bike that didn't tell me what was going on, or the treadmill that kept changing the speed or incline - we don't know what life will bring us each day, and when we do know, we sometimes don't enjoy it very much. Basically, life isn't always fun! Sometimes we lose friends or family, sometimes work (or school) is stressful, sometimes we have to do things that we really, really don't want to, sometimes prayer doesn't seem to be "working", sometimes life is hard, sometimes that alarm is too early. Through all of this we try to find some peace and joy and most of the time it just doesn't work. Our lives are busy, we are tired, and we feel like we are running from one things to the next just putting out fires. And, you know what, that is part of life. Hardships are part of the human experience (at least since we started sinning); however, while life will continue to be full of things that we don't like (for lack of a better term), we can still be filled with peace. How? We have to get our peace from Christ.
In the Gospel, we see countless times where someone (or a group) is full of fear, or anxiety, or troubles, and we hear the words "peace be with you". Some examples: After the Resurrection, Jesus appears in the upper room to his previously despairing, now startled, disciples, and the first thing that Jesus says is "Peace be with you" - Luke 24:36 Again, right before the Ascension, to his disciples who are distraught at the prospect of Him leaving, Jesus says "Peace I leave with you" - John 14:27. Now, these examples aren't really helpful, yeah, Jesus gave them His peace, great, where do I get it? Well, keep reading.
In the same passage from John, Jesus continues: "my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." Here is the important part - this peace is different than the world's peace. It isn't from the world. True peace, as Arch-Abbot Lambert explained in our retreat last week, can only be given from, and found in, Christ. God's perspective isn't ours, and he wants to transform all those problems, difficulties, and times of sadness into opportunities for us to grow closer to Him. We must accept them, these crosses, as such - as means of reparation for our own sins (and others'), as times where we can learn greater trust of God, as ways to learn detachment, and as opportunities to grow in virtue. In short, the peace of Christ, which is the only true peace, comes from learning to rely on Him and use every moment, regardless of how much we enjoy it, to become more Christlike. This is the Little Way of St. Theresa of Lisieux, of offering up everything to God and doing everything for God. It's not like God plans out our life and every so often sends in a difficulty - like one of those boss-levels in a video game - but whenever we are struggling He gives us the grace to persevere (which we need to accept) and the option of using that moment to grow closer to Him and become more like Him.
Unfortunately, that's all I've got. As an addendum I should note that this is by no means complete - there are so many other fantastic spiritual writers that have more experience than I, can write more beautifully and richly than I, know their faith better than I, and basically this means that I am undoubtedly leaving a lot out. However, I wanted to tell you what is going on around here and simultaneously tell you something that I have been (slowly) learning through the seminary process: rely on God. Finally, I need to say that there is another direction one could go with the topic of peace, that of becoming peacemakers (from the beatitudes). I'll have to hit that topic at some point in the future. Happy Friday!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13
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