Recently I saw something on Facebook that caught my attention. It was a painting of St Paul and the meme said, “If Paul saw the Church in America today, would we be getting a letter” Our Church, Our Nation, and Our world. If you look at Paul’s letters, most of them are written as corrections. Something is happening that should not happen, and Paul is pointing that out. However, Paul also has letters of encouragement and acknowledging good things he has heard. His letter to the Corinthians that we hear today starts with what may be a very important line. “I should like you to be free of anxieties.” He goes on to list different states of life and what they are anx- ious about. It can be really revealing what we get anxious about.

In our world today it is easy to get anxious, for some people it can even take over and be crippling for them. Often some of the things we get anxious about turn out to be just fine or even something good. Our boss wants to talk to us can go from ‘I must have done something wrong’ to finding out the boss heard a nice comment about us and wants us to know about it. Anxiety can go hand in hand with worry and even lead to despair. If you struggle with Anxiety, you know all of this too well. So how do we change the pattern? How do we trust in the Lord and not fall into the ongoing cycle of Anxiety? I may not be the best one to speak on how to break free from this, since I, myself, have fallen into it. But it is clear from St Paul’s letter that is not what the Lord wants for us.

Often the unknown can be a trigger for us. If we knew what tomorrow would bring. However, if we have something to confront and we do not know how the person will respond, or we know they will not respond well, we must confront it. I have often come to see as a priest, almost anything I may do, I can find someone who does not like it. But it is for the greater good of the parish or is coming down from the archbishop, nothing will change that situation. However, I have found that I can approach these things a lot better if I am well rested and strong in my prayer. If I am tired, due to many things to do (like Christmas Masses, confessions, and other things) or if busy I start to let my prayer time slip (not good and I really try not to let this happen), I do not always respond as best I could. Getting some rest and strengthening my prayer always helps.

Are you someone who struggles with Anxiety? Know you are not alone, many do. Do you know what your triggers are? If you do, you have made the first step to change. I, by no means am an expert in this area, but I do think it is one that is growing in our world today. The Lord has longed for a long time for us to be free of anxieties, some day I hope we can all get there.

On a positive note, we are moving into February this coming week. One step closer to spring, however odd this winter has been. I still look forward to warmer weather and getting back out into my yard. I recently was speaking with a friend and her kids after a penance service. The kids were very disappointed that they were not able to do much (if any) snowmobiling this winter. For the sake of the children, I tried as best as I could to hide my joy. Once again it reminded me how different we all can be in what we like and dislike in our lives. And the weather is something that is out of our control. What is the saying? “If you don’t like the weather in Minnesota, wait 15 minutes.”

I continue to pray that we all may come to see a life of faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ should never be something that is sea- sonal or put behind something else, it should always be a priority in our life and takes work on our part to keep it going. But if prayer and time with the Lord is important in our life and we give it the attention it deserves, we often will find those hard things in life will be a little easier, that Anxiety will be calmed.

Blessings and Peace on all of us today,

Fr. Backer