Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

One of the goals of many religions is to attain to a form of transcendence, a way of escaping the material and reaching a higher level of being. It’s very interesting then that Paul, in his many writings about Christian spirituality sprinkled through his epistles, doesn’t talk about escaping life but getting a better version of life, a transformative resurrection.

What is transcendent is the peace of God, which can overcome any circumstance or bodily condition a person might encounter to guard our hearts and minds. The cure for worry is not to escape trouble by leaving the body, but to center your mind on the peace that comes from God through the indwelling of the Spirit in his Church.

Ethan Kirl