How can God ask us to not be anxious when this world is full of stressors beyond our control?In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus serenely tells us that we have no need to worry, but trust that God will provide. Does this mean people in dire situations, or the homeless, simply need some more (or any) faith to help pull them from their situation?How is growing anxiety like a snowball-effect?How do we attain the proper disposition for dispelling anxiety?What is the remedy for anxiety?We do not often think of anxiety as
: as a temptation, but just as a feeling that involuntarily assails us. How does this knowledge change our attitude toward anxiety?Find the references in the Mass to “free us from all anxiety” and from stress, and to grant us peace. What do these tell you?
Jan 18, 7:29 AM
SrSusan (Guest): Sun chat Jan 21 730pm est
Jan 18, 7:29 AM
SrSusan (Guest): newsletter for chat https://visitationspirit.org/2024/01/newsletter-for-sunday-chat-jan-21/
Newsletter for Sunday Chat Jan 21 | Visitation Spirit
Jan 19, 11:29 AM
ali (Guest): hi
Welcome to our Living Jesus Chat Room. Just sign in, using any of the methods below.
Jan 21, 4:26 PM
SrSusan (Guest): welcome viewers
an 21, 4:30 PM
Elena (Guest): Hi, Sr. Susan and viewers. I can’t stay on long tonight but I loved tonight’s topic.
Jan 21, 4:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Hi Elena
Jan 21, 4:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I hope it is not because you are anxious tonight!
Jan 21, 4:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): But yes we all need this topic
Jan 21, 4:30 PM
Elena (Guest): Well, I’m always anxious..
Jan 21, 4:31 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St Francis de Sales wants us to have peace of heart but of course it is easy to say but hard to achieve
Jan 21, 4:31 PM
Elena (Guest): Exactly. I will be alright for a period of time, then without even noticing it, I get wrapped up in worry and dark thoughts.
Jan 21, 4:31 PM
SrSusan (Guest): and impossible without Jesus
Jan 21, 4:32 PM
Elena (Guest): Amen
Jan 21, 4:32 PMSrSusan (Guest): so, How can God ask us to not be anxious when this world is full of stressors beyond our control?
an 21, 4:33 PMElena (Guest): The answer is easy to say but not so easy to live out: surrender everything to him, trusting in God’s providence such that we don’t need to be in control
Jan 21, 4:33 PMElena (Guest): we admit that we’re actually not in control
Jan 21, 4:34 PMSrSusan (Guest): I was reading in John Cassioan conferences that we must keep repeating always O God come to my assistance O Lord make haste to help me
Jan 21, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Cassian
Jan 21, 4:35 PM
Elena (Guest): That is good. The opening prayer in the Divine Office.
Jan 21, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): exactly
Jan 21, 4:35 PM
Elena (Guest): I will remember that.
Jan 21, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): but to pray it similar to the Jesus prayer
an 21, 4:36 PMElena (Guest): Which references God’s mercy..
an 21, 4:36 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes and we arealways declaring our weakness and dependence upon God
Jan 21, 4:36 PM
Elena (Guest): Not that mercy is just begging forgiveness, but to ask for God’s mercy on our weakness, that we can rely on him when we are tempted
Jan 21, 4:37 PM
Elena (Guest): yes
Jan 21, 4:37 PM
SrSusan (Guest): that takes away our illusion of control
Jan 21, 4:37 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Hi Ruth
Jan 21, 4:37 PM
Elena (Guest): Hi, Ruth
an 21, 4:38 PM
SrSusan (Guest): In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus serenely tells us that we have no need to worry, but trust that God will provide. Does this mean people in dire situations, or the homeless, simply need some more (or any) faith to help pull them from their situation?
Jan 21, 4:38 PM
Ruth (Guest): Where were you Sr.?
Jan 21, 4:39 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Had a visitor last Sun nite
Jan 21, 4:39 PM
Dawn (Guest): Yes, Sr Susan. its always more interesting when you join us
n 21, 4:39 PM
Elena (Guest): This is a hard passage… because I always wonder about those who suffer so much injustice. I think of the Holocaust and all the wars raging now.. the homeless in this bitter cold and snow.
Jan 21, 4:40 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes and the maimed children in the current wars
Jan 21, 4:40 PM
Ruth (Guest): Good Question.
Jan 21, 4:40 PM
Ruth (Guest): Maybe it means that the rest of us need more faith and compassion.
Jan 21, 4:40 PM
SrSusan (Guest): aha
an 21, 4:41 PMDawn (Guest): It seems impossible to be at peace in all circumstances. but we can draw closer to Jesus and he will help us
Jan 21, 4:42 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes.
Jan 21, 4:42 PM
SrSusan (Guest): welcome Kisha
Jan 21, 4:42 PM
Elena (Guest): Yeah but I can’t help people suffering in other countries or even the homeless in my own city. I can pray for them. But how does that relieve anyone’s anxiety?
an 21, 4:42 PM
SrSusan (Guest): it might someone mite feel a surge of energy or the mood passes for no obvious reason
Jan 21, 4:43 PM
SrSusan (Guest): that has happened to me when others were praying for me
an 21, 4:44 PM
CArol (Guest): Hi Everyone
Jan 21, 4:44 PM
Elena (Guest): Sorry… gotta run… just wanted to pop in. Let’s all pray for one another!
Jan 21, 4:44 PM
Ruth (Guest): Prayer DOES help. It even helps us to understand or discern exactly how when and where we need to be engaged, hands on.
Jan 21, 4:44 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Hi Carol!
Jan 21, 4:44 PM
CArol (Guest): I will Elena
Jan 21, 4:44 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Prayers Elena
Jan 21, 4:45 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi Carol!
Jan 21, 4:46 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Sometimes if we have that increase of faith, as you said Ruth we will understand our role in helping someone else’s anxiety
Jan 21, 4:46 PM
CArol (Guest): I’ve missed you all
Jan 21, 4:46 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Missed you too!
Jan 21, 4:46 PM
Dawn (Guest): Yes, I can feel when others pray for me.
Jan 21, 4:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Carol!
an 21, 4:47 PM
SrSusan (Guest): How is growing anxiety like a snowball-effect?
Jan 21, 4:47 PM
CArol (Guest): Hi Ruth!
an 21, 4:47 PMCArol (Guest): Well, sometimes I just can’t stop
Jan 21, 4:48 PMDawn (Guest): thoughts accumulate and intensify in anxiety.
an 21, 4:48 PM
Dawn (Guest): not based in reality. Christ is reality
an 21, 4:49 PMCArol (Guest): Those thought go by pretty fast too. Its hard to catch the snow ball before it’s the avalanche
n 21, 4:49 PM
CArol (Guest): It seems like allmof life is uncertain Ifmwe think we are doing it alone
Jan 21, 4:50 PM
Dawn (Guest): need to be trained in avalanches
n 21, 4:50 PMCArol (Guest): I an send you a shovel Dawn
21, 4:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): I think I am alive, and mostly in a very positive mood or outlook at least in part because of the prayers of others AND because, by “offering up” my challenges, there was(is) MEANING to what I have been going through. My patience becomes a gift to me from God and a gift that I can give to God for others.
Jan 21, 4:51 PM
SrSusan (Guest): catching our breath, breathing out a prayer can slow it down but we are sometimes not able to stop fast enuf
an 21, 4:51 PMDawn (Guest): I think developing prayer habits, like what to do right away, I usually grab my rosary
an 21, 4:52 PMSrSusan (Guest): How do we attain the proper disposition for dispelling anxiety?
an 21, 4:52 PM
Dawn (Guest): beautiful reflection Ruth
Jan 21, 4:52 PM
CArol (Guest): Singing helps too. It shuts off more of the mind
n 21, 4:53 PM
Nicole (Guest): Also, cutting the stressful things from our lives that we cannot help. I don’t have a tv and don’t listen to the news. This allows me to focus on prayer and not worry.
Jan 21, 4:53 PM
Dawn (Guest): first. apart from him, we can do nothing. so making an act of our will to surrender, then his graces can come
an 21, 4:53 PM
Dawn (Guest): first. apart from him, we can do nothing. so making an act of our will to surrender, then his graces can come
Jan 21, 4:53 PM
CArol (Guest): That is such a good idea Nicole. Current media is designed to grow fear
Jan 21, 4:53 PM
Dawn (Guest): Great plans Nicole!
Jan 21, 4:54 PMNicole (Guest): I used to have a anxiety disorder when I was young so I understand how painful it can be.
an 21, 4:54 PM
Ruth (Guest): Kisha and Nicole, hello, welcome & Carol I was wondering if you’d been here sometimes when I wasn’t.
Jan 21, 4:55 PM
Kisha19: Good evening
Jan 21, 4:55 PM
Dawn (Guest): no news, or at least limit to an hour a week or something little. news can be so toxic
an 21, 4:56 PM
Dawn (Guest): learning to reconize the first signs. like right now.
Jan 21, 4:56 PM
SrSusan (Guest): a disposition is almost like an interior state, so besides external things to cut out, internally we need a mechnism, again, prayer for ex, interior trust
an 21, 4:57 PM
Nicole (Guest): Prayer and offering any obstacles and trusting the Lord.
Jan 21, 4:57 PM
Dawn (Guest): Spiritual reading is helpful to re focus us. or the Hours. Scripture
n 21, 4:57 PMCArol (Guest): And sometimes when something doesn’t go right it can affect me–I get extra anxious and begin to behave that way. Jesus has really been slowing that reaction down for me so I can stop
an 21, 4:58 PM
Nicole (Guest): I’m currently consecrating myself to Mary too. Something I highly recommend.
Jan 21, 4:58 PM
Ruth (Guest): Carol that is interesting about singing. I’m not sure about it shutting off the mind, but it sure can change where the mind and even the voice or breath is . . .
Jan 21, 4:58 PM
CArol (Guest): Yes! Mary will help
Jan 21, 4:59 PM
SrSusan (Guest): when Jesus truly begins to live within us , as we let Him, bit by bit, anxiety can diminish
an 21, 4:59 PMNicole (Guest): I know what you mean, Carol. He is making me more patient
an 21, 5:00 PMCArol (Guest): Singing is more of a whole body experience and the hymns contain Truth
an 21, 5:00 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes Sr, we could say anxiety is a spiritual sign to guide us
Jan 21, 5:01 PM
Nicole (Guest): It’s amazing how he doesn’t change and heal us all at once. It is bit by bit. I love what St. Francis de Sales said about this that evil comes in a wagon and leaves by foot.
Jan 21, 5:01 PM
CArol (Guest): Because we should look for the source and surrender it
an 21, 5:02 PM
SrSusan (Guest): the source of the anxiety? yes good oint
Jan 21, 5:02 PM
SrSusan (Guest): point
an 21, 5:03 PMSrSusan (Guest): What is the remedy for anxiety?
Jan 21, 5:03 PM
CArol (Guest): Just the other day i was trying to control things, haha
Jan 21, 5:04 PM
Dawn (Guest):
Jan 21, 5:05 PM
Dawn (Guest): I believe prayer. or Mass. the Sacraments, esp Confession
Jan 21, 5:05 PM
SrSusan (Guest): talking to a good friend helps too sometimes
Jan 21, 5:05 PM
Nicole (Guest): My remedy is offering it up to Jesus. Also, take the focus off yourself! The second you start thinking about helping others, all the depression and anxiety disappears. You’ll see it is also a form of selfishness because we focus too much on ourselves.
Jan 21, 5:05 PM
CArol (Guest): And Adoration
Jan 21, 5:07 PMDawn (Guest): Good point Nicole. and yes, talking with someone you can trust is very good too
n 21, 5:07 PMDawn (Guest): Yes, Carol, Adoration and talking with Jesus , the best
an 21, 5:08 PMSrSusan (Guest): We do not often think of anxiety as
: as a temptation, but just as a feeling that involuntarily assails us. How does this knowledge change our attitude toward anxiety
an 21, 5:08 PMCArol (Guest): Taking my final vow changed everything too
an 21, 5:09 PM
CArol (Guest): Brb my turn to cook
Jan 21, 5:09 PM
Dawn (Guest): ok Carol
Jan 21, 5:09 PM
SrSusan (Guest): supper time where you are!
Jan 21, 5:09 PM
Ruth (Guest): So happy to hear that Sr. Carol!
an 21, 5:11 PMRuth (Guest): Atr you in a group now? Does the house have a library big enough to house the books that were pushing you out of your home?
n 21, 5:13 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I think we dont think of anxiety as a temptation often enuf but more like a pyschological issue
Jan 21, 5:13 PM
Nicole (Guest): I always found anxiety to be involuntary. I would never be tempted to want to experience a feeling so debilitating. Knowing that this is not a temptation that I cannot say yes or no to is when I turn to Jesus for help.
an 21, 5:14 PM
Ruth (Guest): Opps! I guess you have gone now to cook, Carol. That’s something I find extraordinarily difficult, changing gears, switching from one task to another by the clock.
Jan 21, 5:15 PM
Dawn (Guest): Love what StF says to examine yourself wheater your soul is in your hand or if it has been snatched. examine if your heart is under your control or if it has escaped . para phrased
Jan 21, 5:15 PMSrSusan (Guest): but you got the essence Dawn!
n 21, 5:16 PMNicole (Guest): Maybe even trusting in the Lord that the feeling may be there for a reason and that he will take care of it can ease the feeling quickly. I find perception plays a huge part.
an 21, 5:17 PM
SrSusan (Guest): How does this knowledge change our attitude toward anxiety?Find the references in the Mass to “free us from all anxiety” and from stress, and to grant us peace. What do these tell you?
n 21, 5:20 PMNicole (Guest): Honestly, it is realizing the Lord is way bigger than our worries and passing feelings.
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
SrSusan (Guest): There is no more powerful prayer than the Mass
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
Nicole (Guest): People need to be patient and trust that he has a plan for you. The best way to find out what that is is by keeping a routine prayer life. When you are patient you will see those emotions change in time because of him. He gives us peace.
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
SrSusan (Guest): so any prayer in it is also powerful
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
Ruth (Guest): Feelings, are, indeed, non-moral, neither goo nor bad in themselves. Some anxiety can be useful, for example if it leads us to actions that avert disaster. God made us a
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
SrSusan (Guest): if anxiety is mentioned in a Mass prayer, it must have power to get the evil one away
Jan 21, 5:23 PM
SrSusan (Guest): which could mean that one is behind the anxiety ultimately
creates a disorder bringing us down the wrong path. We then don’t see the light.
Jan 21, 5:25 PM
Nicole (Guest): We begin to feel disconnected.
an 21, 5:26 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I know thta disconnected feeling I experiernced it my younger days
Jan 21, 5:27 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Connect to Jesus and stay that way
an 21, 5:27 PM
Nicole (Guest): That’s my plan. I’m a total nut for him.
Jan 21, 5:27 PM
Ruth (Guest): In S.Scripture, we hear over and over again, “Fear not” not because fear and anxiety are in and of themselves evils.
Jan 21, 5:28 PM
Nicole (Guest): Absolutely, Ruth.
Jan 21, 5:28 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes
Jan 21, 5:28 PM
Ruth (Guest): It is what we DOwoth those unpleasant feelings.
n 21, 5:29 PMNicole (Guest): When I start feeling “out of sorts” I reassess myself and usually find my prayer life is not consistent. My challenge is consistency and perseverance.
an 21, 5:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes prayer and perseverence.
Jan 21, 5:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I need to leave now but please continue God bless!!
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