Practice Instructions
See complete instructions in a separate document. A short summary:
- Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.
- Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.
- Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in meditation.
- Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.
- Read the “What Is” section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.
Commentary
God’s peace is always with me, and I am always safe. It isn’t a sometime thing. God’s peace is with me now and always. Unrest is always something I am superimposing on the underlying peace, which never leaves me. Unrest is a false perception; peace is reality. If I am willing to stop, to say, “Peace! Be still!” to the storm in my mind, God’s peace is always there, waiting to be discovered.
I am surrounded by God’s peace (1:1). It goes with me wherever I go (1:2). I bring it with me, and I can “shed its light on everyone I meet” (1:3). I can be, as St. Francis prayed, an instrument of His peace, bringing it “to the desolate and lonely and afraid” (1:4). Oh, I want that to be what I am today! I want to be willing to pray, “Send them to me, my Father” (1:6). Let me hear the lesson of the Holy Spirit, “To have peace, teach peace to learn it” (T-6.V(B)). As I bring peace to those “bereft of hope and happiness” (1:5) I will find it in myself (2:2-3). I will recognize my Self. I will hear the Voice for God. I will recognize Your Love.
Today, if I do not feel Your peace within me, let me bring it to someone else who needs it. In so doing, I will recognize its presence in myself.