How to Handle Worry
A Catholic Approach by: Marshall J. Cook
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The following is an excerpt from How to Handle Worry: A Catholic Approach by Marshall J. Cook, © Marshall Cook, 2007 Pauline Books and Media. Used with permission of the publisher, Pauline Books and Media, Boston, MA 02130-3491.

At each Mass we recite the prayer that Jesus himself gave us, the one we call the Lord’s Prayer. We pause while the priest petitions the Father on our behalf to deliver us from every evil, to grant us peace in our day, to free us from all sin, and to protect us from all anxiety “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

We affirm this prayer with a communal “Amen”: we believe!

But do we? Do we really believe that God will keep his promise to grant us his peace and free us from every fear?

Granted, our belief is imperfect, our faith incomplete
...But shouldn’t even an imperfect faith in God’s perfect love protect us from the corrosive anxiety that can rob life of its joy?

“Do not fear, only believe,” Jesus tells the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter has just died (Mark 5:36). We are to have absolute faith in the saving power of Jesus, even in the face of death.

Can the truth really be that simple? It can and it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Somehow the simplest truths are the most elusive.

If we truly bring our worries and fears to God, allowing him to release us from our anxiety so that we may more fully love him, we will be acting contrary to our cultural teaching and example. Pessimism and cynicism are considered “natural” and “realistic,” while the optimist is labeled a “Pollyanna,” out of touch with the cold, hard facts of life.

It isn’t true. The Word of Christ is true.

Christ can heal us of all anxiety if we but let him. When we do, we’ll re-encounter the central paradox of our faith, the teaching that we must willingly lose our lives in order to find full and abundant Life in him. We find freedom from fear in surrendering to God’s will and accepting God’s amazing promises for us, manifested in his Word and made flesh in his Son.

The path from faith to fear is the journey of a lifetime. We must pick ourselves—and each other—up every time we fall. We must forgive every time we fail.

We’ll never be finished or “cured” as long as we live on this earth. We’ll continue to confront fears every day of our lives, and every day our faith will become stronger and anxiety will lose a bit more of its hold on us.

“Don’t be afraid; just have faith.” The truth really is that simple. But it defies intuition and emotion and transcends intellect and logic. It won’t be enough to learn about the journey; we must live it.