Have you ever lost your wallet, gotten a bad medical report, received an unexpected bill, gotten scammed ? Have you ever fallen on your “spiritual face” by acting poorly or sinfully? Hmmmmmm. Generally when I find myself “out of peace or anxious” resulting from these kinds of challenges, I try to get myself out of the mess as quickly as I can. If I can fix this mess, I won’t be anxious any more.
Yet, these types of unexpected challenges, whether major or minor, happen all the time. What are we to do? How do we live in the midst of these daily trials?
The world tells us to distract ourselves… go have a drink, go on vacation, buy a new hat. I recently read that Walt Fraiser of NY Knicks fame would go clothes shopping when he had a bad game and buy some fancy outfits. The solution to his challenge was to become “Clyde”, the fashion king of New York.
In a recent podcast, Bishop Barron provided some better answers to this common dilemma. He spoke of life’s unpredictability and the trials faced by all of us. Despite St. Paul’s exhortation to “have no anxiety at all”. (Phil. 4:6), he said we all have anxiety at times….. if rich, we’re anxious about losing our riches…if poor, we’re anxious because you don’t have anything.
He went on to say that peace is found when we’re able to move from the raging of the waves at the surface of the ocean, to below the surface, to the depth, to a place of peace. The storms don’t go away, but we can operate out of a deeper place, where there is peace, where there is serenity… by prayer we find peace. He mentions Jesus asleep in back of boat…. at peace in the midst of storm, Theresa of Avila… heading to the middle of the castle during the battle, John of Cross… going to the inner wine cellar…. a place of intoxication of the Holy Spirit. He advises us to find that “place”, to root our life with Christ who is at the center. He says that prayer is the key to finding that peace… finding the place in you where you still have the fears and crisis, but are not living in them.
He mentioned that Pope John Paul II told us to “Be not afraid” , but his life had been filled with the terrifying threats of Nazis and Communists; he had a right to be afraid… but he could say, “Don’t be afraid”, because he was rooted with Christ, he knew the way of prayer and peace in the midst of these anxieties.
Bishop Barron ended his homily by mentioning the beautiful passage from Phillipians 4:8 …. by prayer and by associating with things that are true and beautiful we can be led back to God and to peace. These things are not only the truths of scripture, but can be considering “an elegantly formulated mathematical equation, the musings of a great philosopher, a well crafted short story , an authentic act of kindness, frescoes from the Sistine Chapel, even a well crafted double play in baseball. He said these can produce within us a sense of peace even in the midst of dealing with anxiety. And that can be very good news.
Final Note: You sports fans may wonder how did Walt Frasier get the name Clyde. Well apparently it’s because he wore a wide brimmed hat like the one worn by Clyde Barrow in the movie “Bonnie & Clyde”.
