Finding Peace in the Storm: Reflections on St. Alphonsus Liguori's Uniformity with God's Will

by Dan Burke

Sometimes discernment seems complicated, and we struggle to “be still” to listen to God’s voice. Following the death of his spiritual director, St. Alphonsus Liguori penned timeless advice in a letter to one of his spiritual daughters, and it became the famous work titled Uniformity with God’s Will . Now Dan Burke breaks open St. Alphonsus’s eighteenth-century classic for you. He intersperses relevant explanations and insights within the text of this great saint and includes reflection questions for each chapter. St. Alphonsus explains, “We should most confidently abandon ourselves to all the dispositions of divine providence, since they are for our own good.” In page after page, Burke shows you how the “wind and waves” can help you ascend to union with God. You will Liguori intersperses fascinating real-life examples from the saints to assist you in remaining steadfast amid afflictions. He explains three temptations that confront us and how to resist them, along with four practices of uniformity to God’s will and a surefire way to unite your sufferings to Christ’s sufferings. You will acquire tips on what to do during periods of aridity or desolation. Above all, you will discover how to enjoy peace of heart in all circumstances and foster loving conversation with God. By learning how to entrust yourself fully to God’s holy will, you will experience His divine embrace and the fulfillment of your deepest desires. A “What Next?” section helps you take practical steps in doing God’s will. Burke also provides a summary of the Paradigm of Ascent, which provides often hidden but foundational insights and practices necessary to live out Liguori’s wisdom and to know the peace promised by God. In addition, he provides a simple action plan to implement these fruitful practices in your life.

Genres: Catholic, Faith, Religion

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 18, 2023

Reviews

[Daven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life is filled with storms that may very easily bring us down. We may think that is not where I am supposed to be in life or this isn’t supposed to happen however, it is all part of God divine plan. This book helps one live in unity with God even when the storms come, and they will come.

There is so much wisdom in this book. It is good to read regardless of what the circumstances are in your life.

[Tauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent study in the deeper meaning and application of St Alphonsus Liguori’s work, Uniformity to God’s Will, in our lives as we pursue, seek to recognize, and align ourselves with God’s will.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

St. Alphonsus Liguori explores a lot of great points in his book. These includes reminders to live in the present, that God is never the source of evil, that the health of the soul is more important than that of the body, and the importance of persisting in daily prayer even through times of dryness. He instructs us not to fall victim to spiritual pride because growth doesn't come from our efforts but only through cooperation with God. Dan Burke has sprinkled in some commentary, mostly relating the saint's words to current times. A highlight of the book are the reflection questions at the end of each chapter. I think these questions will be beneficial to anyone who takes time to really ponder them.

[Elizabeth E · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ found this insightful and moving. I was hoping for a book about discerning God’s will when making a decision. This books was more about accepting that the things in life good and bad all come from God and are therefore his will.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.
During challenging times one of the most powerful antidotes to spiritual and emotional desolation is the understanding and then the habitual awareness of God’s healing and redemptive presence in the midst of chaos and suffering.
The choice to embrace God’s will leads the soul to a place where a transformational encounter with God is inevitable.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s Sacrament of the Present Moment,
Modernism, under the guise of seeking to avoid offending weak consciences or commitments, always seeks to water down what it means to be an authentic disciple of Jesus.
By perfection, he means that state wherein we embrace and seek to live the highest expression of the good that God intends for us,
perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s: “The principal effect of love is so to unite the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same things.”
the more one unites his will with the divine will, the greater will be his love of God.
The greatest glory we can give to God is to do His will in everything.
“It is not God’s will that we should abound in spiritual delights, but that in all things we should submit to His holy will.”
completely abandon our project of self-justification, the worship of our preferences and our desires, immerse ourselves in the One whom we love little but want to love much.
we must fall in love with Jesus. This love emerges in the soul through the loving discipline of mental prayer—a kind of pursuit of the heart that seeks to know Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to remain with Jesus every moment of our lives.
We must, as St. John of the Cross exhorted, come to know Him, emulate Him, love Him, and follow Him. As we do this, we will begin to hear His voice ever more clearly.
The best way to do all of this—the path taken by every saint—is to immerse ourselves in Sacred Scripture, particularly the Gospels. This is where we come to know, hear, see, and engage Jesus in His incarnational glory. This is how we come to fall in love with Him.
“Those who give themselves to prayer,” says St. Teresa of Ávila, “should concentrate solely on this: the conformity of their wills with the divine will.
“Thy will be done,” is properly understood to first mean, “Thy will be done in and through me.”
that God’s will alone is our will. This is the summit of perfection, and to it we should always aspire.
Mary, the most perfect of all the saints because she most perfectly embraced the divine will.
It is a gift, not a punishment, to know what ails a patient.
The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse.
but it takes saints to unite themselves to God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God.
when circumstances are undesirable, we come to a true test of our willingness to accept what God is allowing or causing. To the degree that we embrace and respond to circumstances in a way that expresses a holy yes to God, we will be united with Him. To the degree that we bristle, brood, complain, or reject what is happening, as if it is outside the purview of God’s loving hand, we are thereby separated from Him.
St. John of Ávila used to say: “One ‘Blessed be God’ in times of adversity is worth more than a thousand acts of gratitude in times of prosperity.”
When we compare ourselves with the saints, however, we can no longer hide in mediocrity. Instead, we see that we are called to the heights of sanctity.
Humiliation, adversity, and trials give us the opportunity to be purified by His healing hand. As we are purified, we are emptied of all that hinders our love for Him, our union with Him.
whatever happens, happens by the will of God
“Assyrian wickedness served as God’s scourge for the Hebrews”
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He did not say: “The Lord has given me my children and my possessions, and the Sabeans have taken them away.” He realized that adversity had come upon him by the will of God.
what happens, happens by the will of God.
making a great deal of willing only what God willed, and that God had given him the grace of abandoning his will totally to the will of God. “Prosperity does not lift me up, nor adversity cast me down,” added the monk. “I direct all my prayers to the end that God’s will may be done fully in me and by me.”
I returned thanks to God—as is my custom in such circumstances—fully persuaded that God does all things, or permits all that happens, for His glory and for our greater good; thus I am always at peace, no matter what happens.”
“Thus I am at peace no matter what happens.” Can we claim that we have that same peace, which passes all understanding? If not, it is likely because we reject the will of God rather than embrace it.
ask ourselves, “What is the Almighty doing here? How can I join Him? How can I ease the suffering of His people? How can I be part of the solution to the difficulties at hand and thus bring the joy and redemptive hand of God to bear in the midst of this darkness?”
If we would but lift our eyes above the fray and ask, “What are You doing, Lord?” and “How can I join You?,” we will instead become lights in the darkness. We will be, like this monk, a means of healing and witnesses to the holy and transcendent peace that comes when we truly know God.
St. Alphonsus asserts that your conduct in difficulty is the measure of your love for God.
Alphonsus the Great, king of Aragon, being asked one day whom he considered the happiest person in the world, answered: “He who abandons himself to the will of God and accepts all things, prosperous and adverse, as coming from His hands.” Afflictions do not mar their serenity, because by accepting misfortune, they know they give pleasure to their beloved Lord:
There is a deep trust in the goodness of God—in the reality that He loves us so profoundly that He is even willing to allow extremely difficult things to assail us for the purpose of our freedom, our healing, and our salvation.
all we encounter is necessary for the fulfillment of all the good that our hearts desire.
everything that happens, save sin, happens through the will of God.
If souls resigned to God’s will are humiliated, says Salvian, they want to be humiliated; if they are poor, they want to be poor; in short, whatever happens is acceptable to them; hence, they are truly at peace in this life.
How can he say, “Have no anxiety about anything”? He could say it because he clearly knew Jesus.
The hearts and minds of those who walk close to the Lord find rest and refuge in His care, rather than being overcome by whatever assails them.
To reach deeper levels of sanctity, we might thank God for the hardest things in our day as well as those things that brought us consolations.
To say that “God wills our good” is the same as to say that “all that God wills is ultimately for His glory, our good, and our salvation.”
person who rails at God in adversity suffers without merit;
If, then, He sends us suffering in this life, it is for our own good: All things work together unto good. Even chastisements come to us not to crush us but to make us mend our ways and save our souls:
our petitions should be not that our wishes be done but that God’s holy will should be fulfilled in us and by us.
When, therefore, something difficult happens to us, let us accept it from His hands, not only patiently, but even with gladness,
the disciples shared in the sufferings of Jesus because they embraced their suffering for His sake and because they were confident that they were fulfilling His holy will.
pleasing to Him is the union of certain others with His will, so that their will is neither to rejoice nor to suffer but to hold themselves completely amenable to His will, and they desire only that His holy will be fulfilled.
If it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will.
embrace God’s good pleasure and say to Him in every happening: Yes, Father, for so it has seemed good in Your sight.
When anything disagreeable happens, remember it comes from God and say at once, “This comes from God” and be at peace:
When we pray, when we visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament, we should beg God to help us to embrace His will.
“I love You, Jesus my love; grant that I might love You always, and do with me what You will.”
If during life we have embraced everything as coming from God’s hands, and if at death we embrace death in fulfillment of God’s holy will, we shall certainly save our souls and die the death of saints.
Let us, then, abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, He knows what is best for us;
refrain from expressions like these: “What unbearable heat!” “What piercing cold!” “What a tragedy!” avoid expressions indicating opposition to God’s will. We should want things to be just as they are because it is God who thus desires them.
in hunger, thirst, poverty, desolation, loss of reputation, let us always say: “Build up or tear down, O Lord, as seems good in Your sight. I am content. I wish only what You desire.”
“What would you say or what would you do if someone were to say or do such and such a thing to you?” Let us dismiss the temptation by saying: “By God’s grace, I would say or do what God would want me to say or do.”
The world, the flesh, and the devil are constantly at work to draw us out of the present moment, which is the only place in which we can know God’s peace and presence. The devil tries to draw us into the past to be held in bondage to our shame or into the future to be fearful of possible outcomes. Thus, temptations to dwell in the past or in the future should always be resisted.
Perhaps if God had given us greater talent, better health, a more personable appearance, we might have lost our souls!
“Lord, I wish neither to be well nor to remain sick; I want only what Thou wilt.”
An act of faith is simply a decision, based on faith, to trust God and conform your heart and mind to His will.
meditate on how your suffering, in some small way, mirrors the sufferings of Jesus.
you can imagine some aspect of Jesus’ suffering and draw nearer to Him because your suffering has allowed you to know more about Him than if you had not suffered at all.
If you are seeking to carry out God’s will, what difference should it make to you whether you are sick or well?”
God is glorified not by our works but by our resignation to, and by our union with, His holy will.
St. Francis de Sales used to say we serve God better by our sufferings than by our actions.
in sickness it is better that we seek neither sickness nor health but that we abandon ourselves to the will of God so that He may dispose of us as He wishes.
Sickness is the acid test of spirituality because it discloses whether our virtue is real or sham.
Our sanctification comes fundamentally and essentially from God, not from spiritual directors. When God sends us a spiritual director, He wishes us to use him for our spiritual profit;
the punishments God sends us in this life also graces and benefits
When God sends us punishments, let us say with the high priest Heli: It is the Lord: let Him do what is good in His sight. The time of spiritual desolation is also a time for being resigned.
He desires us to be in Heaven and generously provides us with the means to get there. When we yield to and embrace these means, we yield to and embrace God. If we yield to and embrace all that God provides, we will know salvation in the next life and peace and joy in the midst of the storms of this life.
When a soul begins to cultivate the spiritual life, God usually showers His consolations upon her to wean her away from the world;
we are not to yield to desolation but are to fight it, by turning to God in prayer, penance, and examination. However, we fight the desolation with a peaceful resignation to whatever the outcome of our efforts might be,… It is in the simultaneous movements of struggle coupled with yielding that we, like Jesus, will discover the will of God and embrace it.
all that we do, we do with detachment from outcomes. We leave the results up to God, and we embrace whatever blessing or difficulty He decides we need.
“Love of God does not consist in experiencing His tendernesses but in serving Him with resolution and humility.”
“God’s true lovers are discovered in times of aridity and temptation.”
persevere in mental prayer, come what may.
perseverance is itself an act of love that will always receive its reward.
how we feel has nothing to do with whether God is close to or far away
the holy soul in aridity is often closer to God than when it is in consolation.
The time of aridity is the best time to practice resignation to God’s holy will.
How will we respond to how we feel? Will our feelings dictate our response? Or will we exercise our will to face the difficulty with God’s help, maintain our resignation to His holy will, and remain in His holy embrace?
St. Alphonsus assumes that his readers know the value of mental prayer and practice it daily.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great addition to my book flight of books related to the finding of peace (which included “searching for and maintaining peace” and “prudence”). The commentary by Burke was helpful, as well as some prayers he suggested, and the what next chapter made it even more useful.

[Jackie L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a life changing book. For those of us who have faith, this reorders thoughts and perspective on prayer and its purpose.

[Yen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that Leo found this book in Michigan and thought of me. I also love that this book has been exactly what I needed during this season of life. A book that I definitely want to come back to again.

“Such a one says, "If I were to become a hermit, I would become a saint" or "If I were to enter a monastery, I would practice penance" or "If I were to go away from here, leaving friends and companions, I would devote long hours to prayer." If, if, if—all these ifs! In the meantime, such a person goes from bad to worse. These idle fancies are often temptations of the devil because they are not in accord with God's will. Hence, we should dismiss them summarily and rouse ourselves to serve God only in the way that He has marked out for us. Doing His holy will, we shall certainly become holy in those surroundings in which He has placed us. Let us will always and ever only what God wills; for so doing, He will press us to his heart.”

“…most people who have lived long lives have been falsely accused of something at some point. If that is your suffering, meditate on the reality that Jesus, in contrast to you, deserved nothing but praise and adulation. Instead, He was falsely accused and thus endured a torture that no man could know because He was perfect love and perfect innocence. In the moment of your suffering or your pain, you can imagine some aspect of Jesus' suffering and draw nearer to Him because your suffering has allowed you to know more about Him than if you had not suffered at all.”

“Alphonsus reveals a truth that we can easily overlook or misunderstand in our experience. He notes that those living in habitual peace are not immune to irritations that surface in the senses. He also asserts, however, that when we fully embrace God's will, these stirrings of our lower nature are not strong enough to dominate or overtake us. God remains our strength and our shield as we face the storm, even if the storm is strong enough to rattle us a bit. So yes, we will always be human and feel or experience some measure of fear, anxiety, sad-ness, and so on. But to what degree? The hearts and minds of those who walk close to the Lord find rest and refuge in His care, rather than being overcome by whatever assails them.”

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The timing of this book coming into my life couldn't have been more perfect, as my family has endured a lot of hardship the past several months—from unemployment and family stress to health issues and the passing of a family member. Little things that have happened, too, seemed bigger than they probably were, because they happened in addition to all these major difficulties.

"Finding Peace in the Storm" resonated very deeply with me. It is a blend of St. Alphonsus' classic "Uniformity With God's Will" and practical reflections by Dan Burke. St. Alphonsus offers sound spiritual advice of St. Alphonsus, while Dan's commentary helps in applying his wisdom to everyday, ordinary life.

After reading it, I realized that I have a long way to go to truly live in God's will. But instead of feeling down and discouraged, I have a tremendous amount of hope. For this book is filled with encouragement to "rise at once," humble myself, and seek greater help from God, so I may continue to make progress in the spiritual life.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read other books on seeking the will of God such as Abandonment to Divine Providence and Searching for and Maintaining Peace and found them to be worthwhile reads but this little book is a gem. It is a quick, worthwhile read, yet so full of rich insights on how to practice abandonment to the will of God that you could spend days contemplating the spiritual riches it contains. And Dan helps you to do just that with questions to ponder at the end of each chapter. Dan’s additional commentary is quite helpful for the modern Christian as is his “what next?” chapter at the end. In this chapter you will find a summary of steps to aid you in living the Christian life that St. Alphonsus assumed one who is seeking to do the will of God would be living. Finally, Dan has provided additional reading and online resources for those seeking to know and follow God.

[Lisette Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

The timing of this book coming into my life couldn't have been more timely. Come off a difficult year I had a lot of questions for God
"Finding Peace in the Storm" helped me understand and it answered many of my God questions Mostly is helped me understand
"Uniformity With God's Will"
St. Alphonsus offers sound spiritual advice of St. Alphonsus, while Dan's commentary helps in applying his wisdom to everyday,

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

El texto original de S. Alfonso merece ser conocido y meditado en diversos momentos del camino de entrega a Dios. Los comentarios del autor animan a leer y releer los párrafos de S. Alfonso, resaltan algunos puntos en particular, dan ejemplos que ayudan a entenderlo, sin añadir nada sustancial.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

tool to grow spiritually

I really enjoyed the book . It really helped to reflect on ways to walk with God and to do His Will. I recommend this book for those who would like to grow spiritually.

[Mary Kate Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you desire to grow in complete abandonment to God’s Divine Will, or would like to know more about why the saints all say this is the key to peace and happiness and sanctity in this life, than I’d say read this book. It’s short, easy to read, and very good.

[Natalia Vaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been such a delight and such a relief to read.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loaded with valuable information for the spiritual journey.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful instructions for understanding the importance of accepting God’s will in every aspect of your life.

[Benjamin Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

With each one I read, it gets a bit easier to deal with.

[Maritza Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great new perspective on the “why” of everything I do. There was a part I especially loved in which I had to pause an reevaluate my actions and if I’m properly descending everything I do.