Hey Y’all,

Somebody in the last month or so asked me about how I am responding to the “anxiety epidemic”.  That reminded me that few years ago there was this term “anxiety epidemic” running through mass and social media.  I hadn’t heard the term recently, but I’m sure that anxiety and the symptoms of anxiety are lived by everyone each and every day.  Anxiety is part of our shared human experience.  It is a “feeling of fear” according to Harvard psychologist professor David Rosmarin that is compounded, and layered…

“The biggest trigger for anxiety today is that we are apprehensive about the occurrence of anxiety itself — the minute we feel anxious, we get upset about it and think something’s wrong with us. That internal response increases the flow of adrenaline, which in turn causes a cascade of anxiety because the perceived threat has magnified.”

Without being a psychologist, but being a priest and confessor, anxiety then sounds like dealing with human frailty from the standpoint of self-perceived perfection.  We all know the cascading effects of anxiety, angst, sin, guilt, and our own feelings of not living the perfection that we can perfectly imagine. We deal with these effects all the time.  A homey example is what we hear in our Gospel today.  Martha is planning the “perfect” meal for Jesus, and she’s getting no help from her sister Mary.  Martha is ticked off.  Jesus points out… “Martha, Martha you are anxious and worried about many things”.  See, Jesus knows very well our frailty, our fear, our anxiety, sin and guilt, our inadequacies. I’m pretty sure that all of us can identify with the frazzled, ticked off, worried and anxious Martha.      

So when Dr. Rosmarin says…

“All humans have weaknesses, struggles, and strain at times. To the extent that we can be vulnerable, open up to someone, and show them that we’re not perfect, we are, ironically, more likely to have emotional wellness… Opening up to others about our anxieties can protect us and help us thrive.”

The psychologist sounds like he is giving spiritual advice.  Jesus told Martha… “There is need of only one thing”.  And that thing is Jesus, Himself.  Worship of Jesus, adoration of Jesus, praise of God, wonder of God’s perfection, emptying oneself of guilt and worry and emotional weight to God, and then basking in God’s grace and love, that is the one thing we need.  But I think that it is the one thing that we most often take for granted and don’t fully implement in our lives – thus not freeing ourselves from the anxiety of human frailty. Of course, anxiety from the position of mental health has degrees of severity.  And health treatment should be approached from all appropriate angles, psychological, physical and spiritual.  So, think about Jesus’ advice to Martha.  Let’s seek the “one thing” that brings us health, now and forever – a prayerful and graceful union with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Blessings,

Fr. Reynold