Jesus isn’t anxious…why are we?
Imagine Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and ascended into the glory of Heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, surrounded by angels and saints all celebrating the Wedding Feast of the Lamb…is he nervous or stressed out? Not at all. Can we say the same?
We tend to see the mess the world is in, the suffering of so many people, and we can easily fall into the enemy’s temptation to despair. Msgr. James Shea, the president of St. Mary’s University, recently gave a rousing talk to a group of young adults wherein he said that the anxiety that seems to be growing in Americans, in western culture, in much of the world, isn’t so much a neurosis developed by a selfish generation, but rather the natural consequence of living in a culture that has lost its connection to God.
Even though He sees all things, from the greatest of world conflicts to the most secret battles hidden within our own hearts, Jesus is not at all anxious. He doesn’t worry. He doesn’t fear…anything. And this response of His is not at all a spirit of indifference, cowardice, or a pollyannaish naivete…it’s a total and immutable confidence that He owns by virtue of being the Word Made Flesh, the Lamb who stands though having been slain, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, eternally filled with the Holy Spirit.
And He lavishly pours out that same Spirit on us, the Spirit that anchors us in our deepest and most true identity…beloved children of the Heavenly Father, the Spirit who breaths the life we were created for into our souls, replacing the toxic and caustic fumes of the spirit of the world.
And the Holy Spirit can instill in us the same confidence, reminding us that “all things work for the good for those who love God”. Nothing, even the evil and suffering we may be called to endure, are outside of God’s loving plan for our lives.
I urge us all, and myself especially, when we feel the paralysis of fear, stress, and anxiety grow in our hearts, to ask the Holy Spirit in prayer: the Lord Jesus isn’t anxious…why am I? And then to listen. What are we actually afraid of? What are we putting our trust in rather than the perfect Providence of the Heavenly Father and Lordship of Jesus Christ?
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael
Pastor