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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Anxiety	Mel	Saturday, February 26, 2011
Question: Hello Brother, For years, I have been battling anxiety, which usually focuses on medical issues, although there have been others issues as well. I worked through many of these with a therapist and made very good progress. However, I still find myself suffering from anxieties. I know that anxiety is a spiritual problem rooted in a lack of trust. My childhood and life in general has not given me many reasons to trust anyone. In fact, I sometimes marvel that I have faith at all. Anyway, I want to take this Lenten season to overcome my anxieties. Can you suggest how I might tackle this? What should I read/pray? Just so you know, I am a Byzantine Catholic. I want overcoming this to be the focus of Great Lent, so any advice would be appreciated.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Mel: We will be praying for you in your time of trial. Anxiety is a trial that you accurately described as a lack of trust in God (presuming there is no psychological or psychiatric cause). Certainly continuing with a therapist is a good idea. I would also recommend including the spiritual warfare aspect as well. Demons love to hitchhike on problems that already exist to make them worse than they have to be. In that regard, you can find many prayers useful to you in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog, linked below. The Hedge Prayers of Protection, Prayer to Control Thoughts, and Rebuking Particular Spirits come to mind as particularly useful to you. In this last prayer, rebuke the "spirit of anxiety" and ask for the "spirit of trust and peace." For a Lenten mediation I highly recommend that you do two things: 1) do a Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) on the Scripture passage below; 2) do an exercise on Abandonment to God's Will. There are four phases to Lectio Devina. *Lectio* (reading): An attentive, slow, repetitious recitation a passage of scripture. The Scripture I recommend to you is that dissertation of Jesus on anxiety: (Matthew 6:25-34) "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." *Meditatio* (meditation): “a studious searching with the mind to know what was before concealed” Meditate on that passage every day of Lent. Read it, think quietly about it and how it applies to your life and how you can fulfill its advice and promise. Make an effort to understand the passage and apply it to your own life. *Oratio* (prayer): “a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is evil” Pray to God about the passage. I mean talk to God like you would talk to a close friend in the room. Ask God for help to be free from anxiety. Talk with God about how you can apply the advice and gain the promises of the passage. *Contemplatio* (contemplation): “the lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness; Being still, resting in God’s presence, and letting God work through my mind and heart.” Contemplation is resting in God's embrace. We must be still to do this. Sometimes God cannot get a word in edgewise for all our praying. We need to be still and listen. The contemplative journey follow four guidelines: SILENCE – “Be STILL and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) LISTEN – “each new generation will LISTEN and learn to worship the Lord their God with fear and trembling” (Deuteronomy 31:13). DWELL – “One thing have I asked of the Lord; that I might DWELL in the house of Lord all the days of my life” (Psalm 27:4). ABIDE – “ABIDE in me as I ABIDE in you …. If you ABIDE in me and my words ABIDE in you …” (John 15:1-5). Sit quietly and think upon all that you have learned in the day's Lectio Divina. Then just sit quietly listening upon the Lord. See what he has to say to you. Dwell upon these insights that God gives you and then abide in them, that is to say, take them to heart and seek to practice them. Do not worry if you fail more than you succeed at first. Persevere daily throughout Lent. By Easter you will be more relaxed and settled in the arms of our Lord than you ever have before. Also meditate on Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Notice how our Lord, as our shepherd, keeps his sheep safe and free from anxiety. He leads us to still waters, restores our souls, protects us even in the valleys. What is so amazing about this passage is that our Lord says he prepares a table before our enemies (your enemy is anxiety). He anoints our heads with oil, our cup overflows. This cannot happen when our enemies are before us as we need to be ready for battle, eating and drinking on the run. Yet, with our Lord, even with our enemies right before us, we can relax enough to be anointed, and to have our cup overflow. What a wonderful God we have. I prescribe Psalm 23, and also the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) like a physician prescribes medicine. Then mediate on Abandonment and Resignation to God's will, which is the outflow of the passages above. For that task, please look to a pamphlet we give to our clients called Christian Resignation as a Prerequisite to Freedom (pdf). To be free from the bondage of anxiety you must resign yourself into the arms of our loving Lord. If you do these things, I am confident that you will advance in a mighty way toward intimacy with God that will lead you to leave behind your anxieties. We will be praying for you. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Anxiety

Mel

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Question:

Hello Brother,

For years, I have been battling anxiety, which usually focuses on medical issues, although there have been others issues as well. I worked through many of these with a therapist and made very good progress. However, I still find myself suffering from anxieties. I know that anxiety is a spiritual problem rooted in a lack of trust.

My childhood and life in general has not given me many reasons to trust anyone. In fact, I sometimes marvel that I have faith at all.

Anyway, I want to take this Lenten season to overcome my anxieties.

Can you suggest how I might tackle this? What should I read/pray? Just so you know, I am a Byzantine Catholic. I want overcoming this to be the focus of Great Lent, so any advice would be appreciated.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Mel:

We will be praying for you in your time of trial. Anxiety is a trial that you accurately described as a lack of trust in God (presuming there is no psychological or psychiatric cause). Certainly continuing with a therapist is a good idea. I would also recommend including the spiritual warfare aspect as well. Demons love to hitchhike on problems that already exist to make them worse than they have to be.

In that regard, you can find many prayers useful to you in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog, linked below. The Hedge Prayers of Protection, Prayer to Control Thoughts, and Rebuking Particular Spirits come to mind as particularly useful to you. In this last prayer, rebuke the "spirit of anxiety" and ask for the "spirit of trust and peace."

For a Lenten mediation I highly recommend that you do two things: 1) do a Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) on the Scripture passage below; 2) do an exercise on Abandonment to God's Will.

There are four phases to Lectio Devina.

Lectio (reading): An attentive, slow, repetitious recitation a passage of scripture. The Scripture I recommend to you is that dissertation of Jesus on anxiety:

(Matthew 6:25-34) "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."

Meditatio (meditation): “a studious searching with the mind to know what was before concealed”

Meditate on that passage every day of Lent. Read it, think quietly about it and how it applies to your life and how you can fulfill its advice and promise. Make an effort to understand the passage and apply it to your own life.

Oratio (prayer): “a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is evil”

Pray to God about the passage. I mean talk to God like you would talk to a close friend in the room. Ask God for help to be free from anxiety. Talk with God about how you can apply the advice and gain the promises of the passage.

Contemplatio (contemplation): “the lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness; Being still, resting in God’s presence, and letting God work through my mind and heart.”

Contemplation is resting in God's embrace. We must be still to do this. Sometimes God cannot get a word in edgewise for all our praying. We need to be still and listen. The contemplative journey follow four guidelines:

SILENCE – “Be STILL and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

LISTEN – “each new generation will LISTEN and learn to worship the Lord their God with fear and trembling” (Deuteronomy 31:13).

DWELL – “One thing have I asked of the Lord; that I might DWELL in the house of Lord all the days of my life” (Psalm 27:4).

ABIDE – “ABIDE in me as I ABIDE in you …. If you ABIDE in me and my words ABIDE in you …” (John 15:1-5).

Sit quietly and think upon all that you have learned in the day's Lectio Divina. Then just sit quietly listening upon the Lord. See what he has to say to you. Dwell upon these insights that God gives you and then abide in them, that is to say, take them to heart and seek to practice them.

Do not worry if you fail more than you succeed at first. Persevere daily throughout Lent. By Easter you will be more relaxed and settled in the arms of our Lord than you ever have before.

Also meditate on Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Notice how our Lord, as our shepherd, keeps his sheep safe and free from anxiety. He leads us to still waters, restores our souls, protects us even in the valleys.

What is so amazing about this passage is that our Lord says he prepares a table before our enemies (your enemy is anxiety). He anoints our heads with oil, our cup overflows. This cannot happen when our enemies are before us as we need to be ready for battle, eating and drinking on the run. Yet, with our Lord, even with our enemies right before us, we can relax enough to be anointed, and to have our cup overflow. What a wonderful God we have.

I prescribe Psalm 23, and also the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) like a physician prescribes medicine.

Then mediate on Abandonment and Resignation to God's will, which is the outflow of the passages above.

For that task, please look to a pamphlet we give to our clients called Christian Resignation as a Prerequisite to Freedom (pdf). To be free from the bondage of anxiety you must resign yourself into the arms of our loving Lord.

If you do these things, I am confident that you will advance in a mighty way toward intimacy with God that will lead you to leave behind your anxieties.

We will be praying for you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.