Despair

I've been thinking lately about something I heard my mother say in a speech she gave to a room of young Catholics.  She talked about having faith in God and never compromising your principles in the workplace.  She also talked about how worrying can be a roadblock to success, peace of mind, and a path to despair.  Despair: the enemy of hope.

We know that too much worry or anxiety is bad for us, but we have to have a little if only to keep us on our toes, right?  The saying 'I work best under pressure' implies that you can perform better if you're anxiety is at a peak.  As a champion procrastinator, I am absolutely guilty of this.  So where is the harm in a healthy amount of worry?  Maybe a little is good for you.  But my mother said something in this speech that caught me by surprise.  In all my years of living at home and listening to her advice and lectures, I had never heard her say this.  (Maybe that's because i spent most of my time not worrying.  Which resulted in doing everything at the last minute).

She said that distress is 'right up there' with sin.  Every week, when we pray to God to deliver us from every evil and to keep us free from sin, we also ask him to grant us peace and to protect us from all anxiety.  We pray the Our Father together and then the priest says:

"Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety."

With the recent Mass translation changes, that line is now:

"Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant 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."

Then and now we ask God to graciously grant us peace and keep us safe from worry.

As  Dr. Scott Hahn tells us in the first two minutes of "Holding on to Hope,"

"..hope actually thrives in bad circumstances.  Hope actually matures only when it faces trials, and hope is ordered to something even greater still, and that is Divine Charity: the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts."

We need peace and hope to get through the small and large trials we must face every day.  We need to be safe from distress so badly, we pray for it at least every seven days.

I believe that hope and peace build on each other.  How many times do we or the priest say 'peace' in one Catholic Sunday Mass?  19 by my count, not including all of the times we shake hands with others and wish them God's peace.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.