# The Peace that the World Cant Give - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 21 Aug 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73911057/the_peace_that_the_world_cant_give_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends. We come to the third
[0:02] Speaker 1: Sunday of Advent, and I'm going to draw attention to
[0:06] Speaker 1: our second reading is from Paul to the Philippians. Now again,
[0:09] Speaker 1: can I urge you take out your bibles read Paul
[0:13] Speaker 1: to the Philippins. You can do it easily in one sitting.
[0:15] Speaker 1: It's very brief. It's a very important letter for a
[0:18] Speaker 1: number of reasons. But I want to focus on a
[0:20] Speaker 1: few lines of this one which can maybe just run
[0:24] Speaker 1: right through our minds, but they're actually breathtaking and they
[0:27] Speaker 1: open up something at the very heart of the spiritual life.
[0:31] Speaker 1: So listen to Paul known brothers and sisters, Rejoice in
[0:36] Speaker 1: the Lord always. I shall say it again. Rejoice. Now.
[0:42] Speaker 1: The form there grammatically is the imperative rejoice. It's a command,
[0:47] Speaker 1: which is why today is called galdete Sunday. That's the
[0:50] Speaker 1: Latin command form rejoice. So there's the first thing that
[0:55] Speaker 1: ought to get our attention, because you say, no, wait
[0:57] Speaker 1: a minute, can you really tell somebody to rejoice? You know,
[1:02] Speaker 1: doesn't joy kind of come and go depending on circumstances,
[1:06] Speaker 1: And that if you if you try to tell someone like, hey,
[1:10] Speaker 1: cheer up, they usually take it as kind of offensive, right,
[1:14] Speaker 1: and it doesn't work. Doesn't joy just kind of come spontaneously. Well,
[1:20] Speaker 1: here we have a command. It tells something very important.
[1:26] Speaker 1: The joy that Paul's talking about is not the fleeting
[1:31] Speaker 1: emotional state that we call happiness or joy. Now, I'm
[1:34] Speaker 1: not bad mouthing that that happens a kind of rush
[1:37] Speaker 1: of good feeling which comes up because nice things happen,
[1:41] Speaker 1: or you hear a compliment, or it's just a nice day,
[1:43] Speaker 1: and your emotions kind of improve. Sometimes your emotions are
[1:48] Speaker 1: very low. You know, you're you're depressed, or you're angry.
[1:53] Speaker 1: One thing about emotions is that they come and go.
[1:55] Speaker 1: I mean, you have it and then you don't have it.
[1:59] Speaker 1: But Paul is talking about something else here which can
[2:03] Speaker 1: be the subject of a command. Rejoice. I'll say it
[2:10] Speaker 1: again in case you missed my point. Rejoice. So what's
[2:14] Speaker 1: he talking about. He's talking not about the fleeting emotions
[2:20] Speaker 1: on the surface of one's life. He's talking about the
[2:24] Speaker 1: joy that comes listen now from moving to that very
[2:28] Speaker 1: deep place at the center of your life where Christ
[2:34] Speaker 1: dwells in you. When Paul says it's no longer I
[2:40] Speaker 1: who live, but rather Christ who lives in me. What's
[2:44] Speaker 1: he talking about. He's not saying my personality has disappeared.
[2:48] Speaker 1: He's not saying that the vagaries of my life somehow
[2:52] Speaker 1: have changed. He means he's found deep down within him Christ,
[3:01] Speaker 1: dwelling Christ, living Christ who is the same yesterday, today
[3:10] Speaker 1: and forever, Christ who links us to the eternity of God.
[3:18] Speaker 1: When you live in that place, in that spiritual center,
[3:24] Speaker 1: then you do indeed have a joy that lasts, that
[3:29] Speaker 1: does not come and go. That is not a matter
[3:31] Speaker 1: of emotionality. But is this deep call it peace. I
[3:38] Speaker 1: apply here that wonderful Hebrew word that runs beautifully through
[3:42] Speaker 1: the entire Bible, shalom. When the risen Jesus wishes shalom
[3:49] Speaker 1: to his followers, it may you always be in a
[3:51] Speaker 1: giddy emotional state. What he's saying is, may you have
[3:55] Speaker 1: that peace which is beyond all understanding, the peace indeed
[4:00] Speaker 1: that the world can't give. It's because the world can
[4:04] Speaker 1: give you a superficial happiness from time to time, but
[4:09] Speaker 1: only God can give you. Shall ome this deep piece.
[4:15] Speaker 1: Now I've used some of these images before. They come
[4:17] Speaker 1: up from the Great tradition. They're signaling this conversion. If
[4:22] Speaker 1: you want this move which is basic to the spiritual life.
[4:27] Speaker 1: The one I've shared with you I know often before
[4:29] Speaker 1: is the wheel of fortune, which is on the Godsay
[4:32] Speaker 1: Cathedrals in a big way. And you know, the rim
[4:35] Speaker 1: of the wheel represents the top success and then loss
[4:39] Speaker 1: of success, and then failure and then the recovery of success.
[4:43] Speaker 1: And the point is, well, that's just the way the
[4:45] Speaker 1: wheel goes in the course of our lives. Sometimes we're up,
[4:49] Speaker 1: sometimes we're down. We have good feelings, we have bad feelings,
[4:53] Speaker 1: we have success, we have failure, we're losing, we're gaining.
[4:57] Speaker 1: And the one thing you know for sure when you're
[4:59] Speaker 1: on the rim of the wheel is it's going to change.
[5:03] Speaker 1: You know, I'm happy right now. Notice I just said
[5:06] Speaker 1: right now, because invariably it's gonna change or I'm miserable
[5:11] Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, and when circumstances change, you won't be
[5:16] Speaker 1: as miserable. Well, that's life on the rim of the wheel.
[5:19] Speaker 1: But in this depiction of the wheel of fortune in
[5:22] Speaker 1: the center is Jesus representing what I just was talking about,
[5:27] Speaker 1: representing this transition from the rim to the center or
[5:32] Speaker 1: the depth. The point is, don't live on the rim
[5:35] Speaker 1: of the wheel, live in the center of the wheel,
[5:40] Speaker 1: and then you can watch the wheel go round and
[5:43] Speaker 1: round with a sense of detachment. Now, welcome to another
[5:48] Speaker 1: word that is basic to our spiritual tradition East and
[5:51] Speaker 1: West detachment apatheia in differentia, in the language of ignations,
[5:57] Speaker 1: of iola, indifference, because I'm not living in the ever
[6:01] Speaker 1: changing world of my emotions, but in this deeper place. Now.
[6:06] Speaker 1: This is also exactly what Teresa Avili calls the interior castle.
[6:11] Speaker 1: Beautifully named, isn't it? Place of of safety and power?
[6:18] Speaker 1: A castle, a keep mentioned. You're you're living, you know,
[6:21] Speaker 1: out in the in the fields, and you're you're vulnerable
[6:24] Speaker 1: to attack and vulnerable to the weather and all this business.
[6:28] Speaker 1: When you come from the fields into the castle, now
[6:31] Speaker 1: you're behind these high, thick walls and you can find safety.
[6:36] Speaker 1: So in the spiritual order, a lot of us live
[6:38] Speaker 1: our lives just out there in the world, subject to
[6:42] Speaker 1: all of its vagaries and changes. What's it like when
[6:46] Speaker 1: you undergo this conversion, this real, this real change, and
[6:51] Speaker 1: you're living not out in the field, but you're living
[6:55] Speaker 1: in the interior castle, see, which Teresa identifies with Jesus.
[7:02] Speaker 1: If I can use another metaphor, because all metaphor is limp.
[7:06] Speaker 1: Each one's telling us something true. Think of the surface
[7:09] Speaker 1: of an ocean. Sometimes the weather is such that even
[7:14] Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean can be utterly serene,
[7:19] Speaker 1: just untrammeled. Hey, I can float here peacefully, you know, forever.
[7:24] Speaker 1: But what's the one thing? You know, it's going to change.
[7:27] Speaker 1: The winds will come up, the weather's going to change,
[7:30] Speaker 1: the storms will come, and that placid ocean surface is
[7:34] Speaker 1: going to become a mighty wave. Well that's life, isn't it.
[7:38] Speaker 1: That's life. Hey, Hey, things are going pretty well for
[7:42] Speaker 1: me right now. I'm happy. My emotions are up because
[7:46] Speaker 1: everything's peaceful. You know it's going to change. Therefore, and
[7:53] Speaker 1: this where the metaphor limps. I know, But to move
[7:56] Speaker 1: from the surface to the depths in the in the
[8:00] Speaker 1: real depths of the ocean, there's this stability. Things aren't
[8:06] Speaker 1: coming and going and changing. It's that place of stillness
[8:11] Speaker 1: and peace. And this is so important everybody for our
[8:17] Speaker 1: advent preparation is to learn how to make that move. Now,
[8:22] Speaker 1: listen to as Paul goes on, have no anxiety at all,
[8:29] Speaker 1: but in everything, make your request known to God. In
[8:32] Speaker 1: prayer and thanksgiving. Well, you know, again, on the surface,
[8:35] Speaker 1: you say that doesn't make a lick of sense. I mean, Paul,
[8:39] Speaker 1: of all people, lived with a lot of anxiety. He
[8:43] Speaker 1: tells us about it. A shipwrecked many times. He's stone.
[8:47] Speaker 1: Today he's stone. He's chased out of cities. They persecute him,
[8:52] Speaker 1: they're they're arguing with him. And Paul's a kind of
[8:55] Speaker 1: volatile personality. You can see that in his interactions with people.
[8:59] Speaker 1: So have no anxiety. So imagine telling somebody, hey, hey,
[9:03] Speaker 1: never worry about anything. Well, see, if we're staying at
[9:08] Speaker 1: the surface of life, that is silly. Of course we're
[9:11] Speaker 1: gonna have anxieties about all sorts of things. But if
[9:16] Speaker 1: we're talking about this depth level, we're talking about the
[9:21] Speaker 1: center of the wheel, we're talking about the interior castle,
[9:26] Speaker 1: then you can indeed make sense of this language that
[9:31] Speaker 1: I'm living in a place of no anxiety. You know,
[9:34] Speaker 1: think here of the saints for a second. Gosh, most
[9:37] Speaker 1: of the saints live lives of a lot of conflict
[9:41] Speaker 1: and difficulty and on the surface. But they found something
[9:47] Speaker 1: that's why they're saints. They found this deep place. What
[9:51] Speaker 1: was it that allowed Thomas Moore think of all of
[9:54] Speaker 1: the changes that he went through, in all of the
[9:56] Speaker 1: ups and downs, and he's the top of a society,
[10:00] Speaker 1: and now he's thrown into a prison, he's lionized by everybody,
[10:03] Speaker 1: now he's being put to death. What enabled him to
[10:07] Speaker 1: stay on beam during all of that because he didn't
[10:11] Speaker 1: live on the rim of the wheel, he lived in
[10:14] Speaker 1: the center. What allowed him even to make jokes as
[10:17] Speaker 1: he was ascending the scaffold to be beheaded. It's because
[10:21] Speaker 1: he wasn't living on the surface of the ocean, but
[10:23] Speaker 1: rather in those depths. What was it that enabled Mother
[10:28] Speaker 1: Teresa of Calcutta to just walk into the worst slum
[10:32] Speaker 1: in the world and begin to do this exceptionally difficult work.
[10:36] Speaker 1: Did she face anxiety at the surface of life. Well,
[10:39] Speaker 1: of course she did, like anybody, especially in her case.
[10:43] Speaker 1: But yet she found that place where indeed there is
[10:48] Speaker 1: no anxiety at all. And see, Saint Paul is telling us, rejoice,
[10:54] Speaker 1: find that place. Get there now. Let me I'll close
[10:58] Speaker 1: with this. So you say, okay, great, I guess I
[11:02] Speaker 1: understand that distinction. But how practically do I get there?
[11:08] Speaker 1: Listen again to Paul. In everything by prayer and petition
[11:14] Speaker 1: and with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. The
[11:20] Speaker 1: short answer to how do I get there is prayer. Now,
[11:25] Speaker 1: there are indeed prayers that are just, Lord, please help
[11:27] Speaker 1: me with this particular situation. And there's nothing at all
[11:30] Speaker 1: wrong with that. But the prayer being referenced here, I think,
[11:34] Speaker 1: is this deeper call it attitude of life. Where you
[11:39] Speaker 1: consciously raise your mind and heart to God. You become
[11:44] Speaker 1: aware of God's presence in your life. So, just a
[11:48] Speaker 1: few hours ago I did my Holy hours. The first
[11:51] Speaker 1: thing I do in the morning is does my life
[11:54] Speaker 1: have anxieties in it? Yeah, of course it does, But
[11:58] Speaker 1: during that hour it's just and through the Rosary and
[12:02] Speaker 1: time in front of the blessed sacrament and meditation and
[12:05] Speaker 1: scripture reading, is I'm bringing myself to this deeper place,
[12:10] Speaker 1: or better better honestly bringing myself, I'm allowing God to
[12:15] Speaker 1: bring me to that deeper place where indeed there is
[12:20] Speaker 1: no anxiety, where indeed, even during the worst times, you
[12:25] Speaker 1: can rejoice and listen to how this little passage for
[12:29] Speaker 1: today ends. So if you do that through prayer and
[12:33] Speaker 1: petition and thanksgiving, mind you that last one who is
[12:36] Speaker 1: so important. It's another sermon, I know, But that act
[12:40] Speaker 1: of thanksgiving has a way of bringing you to that
[12:44] Speaker 1: central place. Why well, instead of dwelling on everything that's
[12:47] Speaker 1: bothering me to say, Lord, for everything I have, I
[12:52] Speaker 1: thank you. Well. See right away, you're in the presence
[12:55] Speaker 1: of God. You're in the presence of a power that
[12:58] Speaker 1: goes beyond this world. Okay, but here's how he concludes.
[13:03] Speaker 1: Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will
[13:10] Speaker 1: guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Can I
[13:14] Speaker 1: ask you everybody maybe write that down, committed to memory.
[13:20] Speaker 1: That line in itself I think can bring you to
[13:24] Speaker 1: the place I'm talking about. Then the peace of God
[13:28] Speaker 1: that surpasses all understanding. See, it's a peace that the
[13:31] Speaker 1: world can't give. It's beyond what I can comprehend or control.
[13:35] Speaker 1: And that's how beautiful will guard your hearts and minds
[13:40] Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. Where do our hearts and minds go, Well,
[13:43] Speaker 1: they run to the surface, they run to the rim
[13:45] Speaker 1: of the wheel, they run out into the fields where
[13:47] Speaker 1: all the anxiety is. But this peace, if you can
[13:51] Speaker 1: find it, will guard your minds and hearts in Christ Jesus.
[13:57] Speaker 1: And that's the place where you find peace. That's the
[14:00] Speaker 1: place where you find joy and God bless you.

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