Why Some People Are So Fearful

Fear is the emotion we need to experience when we are confronted with a future evil that can be avoided only with some difficulty. Fear and the consuming nature of anxiety, have the ability to steal everything from us in a way that no other mental tribulation is quite capable. Through a process called potentiation, your fear response is amplified if you are already in a state of fear. When you are primed for fear, you can imagine things as much worse than they really are. Fear can be as much an ally, as it can be an enemy.

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For people who are trying to live a life pleasing to God, the good spirit strengthens, encourages, consoles, removes obstacles, and gives peace. The evil spirit tries to derail them by stirring up anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion, frustration, fear, and other obstacles.

For many, fear causes retreat. It is what prevents many people from reaching their goals and living a happy life. It can literally freeze them. Without God, we turn inward to ourselves.

One of the great gifts of being a believing Catholic is a sense of trust in God’s providence. It is truly a case of lex orandi, lex credendi – what we pray is what we believe. Near the end of the Lord’s Prayer at every Mass, we pause as the priest prays the Embolism prayer.

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Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant us peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus spent a lot of time telling us not to be so worried or anxious. Worrying is natural, and some amount is good, it helps us think about responses to potential dangers, but excessive worry may show a lack of trust and faith in God. Many things are simply out of our control.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:25-27

As did St. Peter: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

And St. Paul: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:7:

The works of God are all of them good;he supplies for every need in its own time. There is no cause then to say: “This is not as good as that”; for each shows its worth at the proper time. So now with full heart and voice proclaim .” Sirach 39: 33-35

Why The Quarantine Is Good For Your Soul

The word ‘Quarantine’ comes from a Venetian dialect and means ’40 days.’ The practice comes from Jesus 40 days in the desert and the Lenten season of spending 40 days to work on one’s spiritual health in the ‘metaphorical desert’ with God before Easter. The 40-day quarantine was chosen to separate those who are, or who may be physically sick, from the rest of the world in order to heal physically and spiritually before they reenter the community.

As we progress through Lent, I look forward to the world getting back to basics, spending time alone in the silence that comes after the noise, time together as families and time with God in prayer and with each other around the world in solidarity.

Don’t get me wrong, It won’t be easy. We will suffer. But, this is when the best of humanity shines. And, because of the internet, this quarantine will be communal. The world will share this Lenten season together.

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Stephen Colbert & Anderson Cooper – God & Suffering

Stephen Colbert’s father and two of his brothers died in a 1974 plane crash when he was 10. Anderson Cooper’s father died of a heart attack when he was also 10 years old and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, died in June.

Cooper asks the comedian Colbert, you said: “What punishments of God are not gifts?”, a quote Colbert borrowed from J.R.R. Tolkien, Do you really believe that?” Cooper asked.

Drawing further from Tolkien, who also experienced tragedy at a young age, Colbert replied: “It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering, there is no escaping that”

The Cross of Our Lord compels us to confront the dark places within us and the agonies of the human condition. Catholics do not look away from the Cross. Crucifixes are front-and-center in our churches. We wear them around our necks and hang them in our homes. They are a reminder that the Resurrection cannot come before the Crucifixion. This is just as true in our own lives as it was for our Redeemer. As Colbert so poignantly puts it “There is no escaping that”

Colbert credits his faith with helping him to work through the devastating loss, noting: “We’re asked to accept the world that God gives us and to accept it with love. If God is everywhere, and God is in everything, then the world as it is is all just an expression of God and his love, and you have to accept it with gratitude.”

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Colbert also recounts how his Mother’s love for God and praying to the Blessed Mother gave her strength through that difficult time. “She knows what it is to lose a child”

He inherited the Crucifix hanging on his wall from her.

How Stephen Colbert's tragic past made him into who he is today | "I was personally shattered, and then you kind of re-form yourself in this quiet, grieving world that was created in the house." Comedian Stephen... | By CNNFacebook

"I was personally shattered, and then you kind of re-form yourself in this quiet, grieving world that was created in the house." Comedian Stephen...

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Watch Colbert and musician Jake White have a Catholic Throwdown You can find the video in Catholic Celebrities

Catholicism: That’s as sane as people can get

Catholicism: that's as sane as people can get

Catholicism: that's as sane as people can get, was a response Dr. Peterson gave to Dennis Prager during an extended interview. Peterson arguably the most recognized psychologist in the world today, discusses Christianity, Suffering, and Sanity with radio talk show host Dennis Prager, a Conservative Jew. Peterson says that "Catholicism is as sane as people can get." and then explains the importance of the Christian idea. When asked if he believes in God, he offers a profound answer challenging listeners.

His response puts his view in stark contrast with the many in the protestant community that ironically awaits his declaration to be a Christian. Many protestants see stated Belief as the only requirement to being a faithful Christian, something Peterson often criticizes as he does here. Peterson has long been an eager student of the Christian narrative and says he has been fascinated with the study of good and evil for most of his adult life. He believes the Christian narrative is the only antidote to the evil that he knows of.

The Intellect Helps The Will

As Frank Sheed wrote in his book Theology and Sanity, first published in 1947:

"The soul consists of two parts, the will and the intellect. The will is to love; the intellect is to understand." The man who uses his intellect in religion is using it to see what is there. The alternative to seeing what is there, is either not seeing what is there, and this is darkness; or seeing what is not there, and this is error, derangement a kind of double darkness. And is unthinkable that darkness, whether single or double should be preferred to light"

The Catholic Church, unites faith and reason, intellect and will, and helps pilgrims on earth to avoid the error and superstition and the purposelessness of pure rationalism. Although not yet a self-proclaimed Christian himself, Dr. Jordan Peterson re-articulates that same message and believes it is the only thing that makes sense both from a psychological and a biological perspective.

Three Things To Do This Lent That Will Actually Help Heal You

Limit Your Internet Exposure

Psychologists agree that too much internet use can create hidden stress. While there is significant debate about whether or not excessive internet use is an actual addiction, there is little debate that overuse can have hidden negative consequences such as impulsivity, narcissism, and aggression. These are just some of the personality traits that seem to be nurtured by the Internet, with possible negative offline consequences.

Pray More

We all know we should pray more but with our busy hectic lives prayer gets pushed to the bottom of the “to do” list. Make a commitment to stay off the internet for a few minutes and use that time for prayer. Study after study overwhelming indicates that a few minutes of prayer each day helps with both physical and mental ailments. Listen to what this Duke University Medical researcher discovered about prayer. https://youtu.be/STfTI7wThso

Make Peace With Someone

Reach out to an estranged friend, family member, or someone else you know and tell them you love them. Don’t worry about how they will respond just tell them, “thanks for listening”. Listen to this message from Msgr. Lisante and remember the words of St. Pope John Paul II “Be Not Afraid”

They Thought He Would Die But He Didn’t

Perhaps if little Alfie was a refugee, the government might give him more help?

Even though the “Experts” predicted he would die soon after removing life support he kept fighting.

One would think his unexpected ability to breathe would change doctors’ and judges’ minds about their current authoritarian course. But no. The technocracy has ruled that it is in this child’s “best interests” to die now! And so die he will.

Father: Alfie Evans Being Denied Sustenance | National Review

The doctors were wrong about Alfie Evan’s inability to breathe on his own. What else might they be mistaken about?

National Review

Jim Carrey Explains Suffering

Your being here is an indication that you’ve made that decision already. You’ve made the decision to walk through the gate of forgiveness to grace. Just as Christ did on the cross. He suffered terribly and He was broken by it, to the point of doubt and a feeling of absolute abandonment, which all of you have felt. Then there was a decision to be made. And the decision was to look upon the people who were causing that suffering with compassion and with forgiveness, and that’s what opens the gates of heaven for all of us. I wish that for all of you. I wish that for myself.

While Carrey’s, a former Catholic, the speech was not totally in line with Catholic theology he did captured an essential truth that many do not, the transformative power of suffering and the transformative nature of grace.

The Rev. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. More on Homeboy: click here