Current social, economic, and political conditions are shaking the world. Those of us used to living in relative comfort are receiving the blessing of learning that we are not God and that we need God to provide even our most basic necessities. This has always and will always be true. However, when our jobs, our liberties, and our safety are threatened, and even our ability to provide the most basic things for ourselves and those we love, we wake up to the reality that without God, we are nothing and have nothing. Without God there is no real hope, no real peace, no real life. Even in the midst of this challenging reality, we can find and meet God within the refuge of a profound peace of heart and soul only found in Him. Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Fr. Jacques Philippe is by far the best I have ever read on the subject and there is no more timely or concise treatment available on the topic.

Here’s the copy from the back cover…

We live in a day and age characterized by an extraordinary amount of agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace which ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us all too often in our lives? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves into his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of heart. Taking concrete examples from our everyday life, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue and ask him for without cease. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

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Art for this post on Searching for and Maintaining Peace – Book Recommendation: Cover of Searching for and Maintaining Peace used with permission.

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Dan Burke

Dan Burke is the past President and C.O.O. of EWTN's worldwide news network. He is presently the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 90 countries and prepares men for seminary in over 40 dioceses. Dan is the author and editor of numerous books on authentic Catholic spirituality and hosts the Divine Intimacy Radio show with his wife, Stephanie, which is broadcast weekly on EWTN Radio. Past episodes can be found, along with thousands of articles on the interior life, at SpiritualDirection.com. In his deep commitment to the advancement of faithful Catholic spirituality, he is also the founder of Apostoli Viae, a world-wide, private association of the faithful dedicated to living and advancing the authentic spiritual patrimony of the Church. Most importantly, Dan is a blessed husband, father of four, grandfather of one—and grateful to be Catholic.