worry
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Are You Strangling Yourself With Worry?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

The Gospel for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time has Jesus being practical: Why are you worried? God is in control. Your faith should be in Him alone, and that should give you peace of mind.

We know how hard this is. If you’re a parent, you know that, from the moment you become a parent, you view the world as an incredibly dangerous place. Everything becomes a potential hazard: Lock up all the sharp knives! Make sure the car seat is properly installed! And it seems to get worse as your child gets older: Driving?? Who thought teens driving was a good idea?!

Maybe you are constantly worried about money, or lack thereof. Perhaps the political climate has you on edge. Or are you worried about your job? Our lives seem to become a constant battleground of worry and faith, of anxiety and peace.

The word “worry” has its roots in the Old English meaning, “to strangle.” This seems accurate: we want the control of taking our worries by the throat, so to speak, but they always seem to get the better of us, and we end up getting strangled! And this turnabout is one that leads to spiritual death: our constant worrying becomes an obsession, forcing out faith and replacing it with fear.

Christ does not want us to live a life of fear. He wants us to have lives rooted in faith, hope and love. Fear destroys this, if we let it. It’s easy to disregard this Gospel passage as sort of a “self-help” Christian advice column, but that is far too simplistic. Christ’s Good News is that the very worst that this world has to offer (sin and death) no longer have a hold on us. They can no longer strangle us, if you will. Christ drives out all fear, all death, all hopelessness. Instead, He brings us hope. He brings us peace of mind. He brings us eternal life.

peace
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Finding Peace In Troubled Times

Humans crave peace and security. We want to have that feeling of a small child, gathered up in a parent’s arms, knowing  that all in that little world is well.

That sense of peace will never be here, in this world, for long. As sad as that is, it is the truth of a fallen world. And no one can escape it. We will all be touched by something bad, even evil. Our world is filled with grief, injustice, poor health, war … we hope it will never touch our lives’ or that of a loved one, but it will.

As Catholics, what do we do? How do we handle anxiety and grief, serious harm and grave injustice? Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, spent his life answering these questions. A priest of the order of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Fr. Groeschel was also a psychologist and a retreat master. He knew, from years of experience of counseling people, what lay heavy on their hearts. He wrote a book called Arise From Darkness: What to do when life doesn’t make sense that tackles the questions of hearts that ache and souls that grieve.

He tells the reader that true peace comes from trust in God, but he also cautions that this trust in God does not mean everything will always be okay.

It means that, whatever happens, we believe that God is there with us and that, if we cling to him, he will bring good out of evil, even out of the evil that he has only permitted to happen. I must make up my mind now that in the darkest hour of life, I will believe that God is with me. And I believe that he will be with you and all who turn to him and even with those who do not know enough to turn to him. This life at its best or worst passes quickly, but God is always there.

There is not situation so dark that God’s grace cannot shine through. Right now, there are parents mourning the loss of a child to violence. That is a cruel and horrid thing to face. Yet, as they grieve, their neighbors and friends are feeding them, sitting with them, running errands. This is God’s grace.

Right now, there are men and women in uniform fighting for the freedoms we hold dear, and that we believe all people should share. They stand in harm’s way for all of us. Many are far from home, living in uncomfortable conditions. They serve proudly; they volunteered to do this for us. This is God’s grace.

Right now, there is a child battling cancer. They must deal with the side effects of powerful drugs, endure long days and nights in the hospital, and the loss of childhood innocence. Yet, there are gentle hands that care for them, doctors and nurses who work long shifts but always seem to have a smile for their little patient. Volunteers stop by to play video games or take the child for a walk. That is God’s grace.

Things are not always okay. In fact, most of the time they are not. What must we do in times of trouble? First and foremost, we must pray. Pray for peace in our own hearts and in the world. Pray that all people realize the presence of God in their lives. Then, when we have prayed, we go out into the world and we share the truth that God’s peace is us all, and especially with those who need it most.