How does a believing Catholic go about shedding severe anxiety?

[Ikon]

I am constantly worried about my daughter and her family. She has been in trouble since she was in high school. She is now living with her husband of three weeks, their 15 month old daughter, and has another child due in January. He has a job in a warehouse operation, they live in subsidized housing and receive other forms of public assistance.

Her actions have been a heartache for my wife and me for many months. We do see her and the baby several times a week and have helped financially at times because we can’t bear the thought of the baby, or her errant mother, in dire circumstances.

Our priest has been a great comfort to us. His advice that we needed to know that all things are in accord with God’s plan was, I know, true but it is so hard to emotionally accept this. I know Christ told us not to worry about tomorrow, but how do you stop worrying? It seems that’s all that I and my wife do. No matter how much I pray over, and I do so every day, I am still consumed with anxiety over the future for my daughter and grandchildren.

How does a believing Catholic go about shedding severe anxiety?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear Friend,

There aren’t enough hours in the day to worry about all that is wrong. But we have the anti-worry, anti-anxiety antidote: Good Friday. I suggest that you spend quality time daily, reflecting on the passion of the Lord and how vulnerable He made Himself. His vulnerability is our shield against vulnerability. The worst thing that can happen to us here is that we die. But by His death our death becomes a birth. He is shoulder to shoulder with us in our human journey.

I suggest that you look at a crucifix (before the Blessed Sacrament if possible) and reflect on His agony in the garden—which was really the agony in His mind. Anxiety is a mind thing. He suffered it to the point of sweating blood. He is with you in this and He alone can put your mind to rest.

Then reflect on and thank Him for enduring the betrayal by Judas, the denials by Peter and the abandonment by the Apostles. Thank Him for enduring the arrest and the cruelty of the guards and members of the Sanhedrin. Thank Him for enduring the endless interrogations and that long night. Thank Him for enduring the brutal scourging which robbed Him of blood and strength and left Him with a pounding headache that remained with Him until death. Thank Him for enduring the mockery and crown of thorns that caused such pain—and the rejection at the praetorium. Thank Him for carrying the cross which caused such extreme shoulder pain—and for falling onto the filthy stone streets with the cross on top of Him—and getting up each time. Thank His for receiving the nails into His hands and feet. Thank Him for struggling to push down on his nailed feet to raise His body in order to fill His lungs with air as He hung on the cross once it was raised into place. Thank Him for enduring such agony for three hours until His strength gave out in that eternal moment when He gave up His spirit and died—giving us His life.

If one is suffering from clinical anxiety, then one ought to see a professional who specializes in such psychological difficulties.

Otherwise such awareness always puts our lives into perspective. Do this every day—and you won’t suffer from anxiety….

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.