Tag Archives: Anxiety

The Joe & Joe Show: Episode 3 – IS ANXIETY NORMAL?

Are you anxious? Joe and Joe discuss anxiety.This week on THE JOE & JOE SHOWIS ANXIETY NORMAL?

Do you suffer from anxiety?

Is anxiety normal?

What does Jesus Christ say about anxiety?

What is at the root of anxiety?

Joe & Joe discuss these and other questions surrounding the ever popular topic of anxiety. So listen in as they answer the question – IS ANXIETY NORMAL?

May God bless you and keep you.


Suffering From Anxiety? Try Faith, Hope, and Love

Suffering From Anxiety? Try Faith, Hope, and LoveWhy do we become anxious?

What exactly is anxiety?

These are questions worth pondering.

Wikipedia offers this:

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is ‘to vex or trouble’; in either the absence or presence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness and dread. Anxiety is considered to be a normal reaction to stress…

So, to a certain extent, anxiety is normal, right? At least, that’s what modern psychology tells us.

As a Catholic, i.e. a follower of Jesus Christ, I find it necessary to bounce things like this off Him. Jesus has this to say about anxiety:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”Matt 6:25-34 (RSV)

Wow! So Jesus is telling us not to be anxious about: (1) our lives, (2) what we’re to eat, (3) what we’re to drink, (4) our bodies, (5) what we’re to wear, (6) tomorrow.

First, implementing Jesus’ message here takes a lot of faith and I think that’s His point. In the preceding passage Jesus says:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matt 6:24

If I serve God and am devoted to Him why wouldn’t I trust Him? Well, for starters, I’m human and a sinner. My faith-life experience is kind of like a T-shirt I heard about:

They say I have ADHD, can you believe it? OH LOOK A BALLOON!

I think I’m serving God, that I trust in Him completely…then the car breaks down, I lose a job, a family member gets sick or dies, I don’t get something I thought I needed…

Would the real Joe please step forward! That’s right…I press forward with my will. I feel like I need to be in control or like the sky is falling.

I’m getting better at reminding myself that feelings aren’t facts, that I’m not in charge, that I need a Savior, but I certainly don’t live any of these principles perfectly. Like the boy’s father in Mark’s Gospel I pray:

“I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24

Our Lord points to this crisis of faith in Matt 6:30, when He uses the phrase men of little faith. Yeah, that’s me.

So could there be more? Could something help my weak faith?

Dr. Scott Hahn, in his book First Comes Love, states:

We need not search far for other reassurances. Take, for example, the hope we have by God’s grace. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,” says Heb 11:1. Yet I believe that hope is the most neglected of the three theological virtues. Many Catholics find themselves burdened with a faith that is devoid of hope. Often, they disdain hope because they have wrong ideas about what it is. Perhaps they’ve confused it with mere “wishful thinking” – “I hope I win the lottery! I hope my team wins the World Series.”

Some hopes are unlikely, and some are impossible. But some hopes are quite reasonable. When I hope to see my friend Dan, who lives across the country. I call my travel agent. I get on a plane…And I have good grounds to hope that I’ll see my friend.

In faith, we have more assurance, and more realistic assurance, that we’ll get what we hope for-more reasons than I have when I step on that plane. We have God’s oath…“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He interposed with an oath….We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul… (Heb 6:17,19)

…”Yeah, that’s all well and good,” you might say,…”What’s in this for me?”

It’s all in there for you, because God has sworn an oath to you. Remember, the Latin word for “oath” is sacramentum-“sacrament.” God has given you oath after oath, sacrament after sacrament, so that you’d never be afraid, never be anxious, never doubt His fatherly care. (pgs. 169=170)

So the answer lies in the hope I receive in the sacraments. It’s not a matter of if God will take care of me and meet my needs, He does take care of me, He does meet my real needs.

In Baptism, Confirmation, and, in an on-going way, in Confession, He clothes me in His Grace and Mercy; in Holy Communion, He feeds and refreshes me, spiritually and physically; in the Anointing of the Sick, He attends to my body as well as my soul; and in Matrimony (Holy Orders for others), He provides direction for my life.

Lastly, the answer lies in LOVE. When I love, when I get out of myself, I find that I’m not as anxious about my wants and needs. I become soulish, not selfish. It’s not all about me.

Mother Teresa once said:

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

I have to love in the present moment, in the now. It is what lasts. With St. Paul, I remind myself, that faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

So when I get anxious I must remember the words of Jesus, echoed through the centuries in the lives of His saints. I’ll close with another Mother Teresa saying,

“Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.”

Words to remember.

A final note: This post in no way is meant to minimize the suffering of those who have been diagnosed with clinical anxiety. My heart goes out to them and, if anything, maybe this reflection will serve as a form of self-therapy in addition to the treatment they are already receiving.

May God bless you and keep you.