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I'm anxious
Anxiety can feel like carrying tomorrow today. The Gospels don't tell you to pretend everything is fine. They show Jesus in a storm with terrified friends, Jesus with a friend worried about many things — and Jesus himself in anguish the night before he died.
Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:34 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
If you are in crisis, or thinking of harming yourself, please contact emergency services (112 in Europe) or someone you trust now. You are not alone.
Awaiting theological review
What Jesus teaches
- Direct
Summary of Matthew 6:25–34
Live one day at a time: “Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself.” - Direct
Summary of Matthew 11:28–30
He invites the weary and burdened to come to him and find rest.
What Christian tradition learns from this
Church teaching
What Jesus did
- Direct
Asleep in the storm
Mark 4:35–41- What Jesus experienced
- His disciples, terrified, in a boat filling with water.
- What Jesus did
- He got up, calmed the wind and the sea, and then asked them about their fear.
- What Jesus said
“Peace, be still.”
Mark 4:39 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
- Direct
Martha, worried about many things
Luke 10:38–42- What Jesus experienced
- A friend overwhelmed by work, and resentful that nobody was helping.
- What Jesus did
- He spoke to her by name — twice — and gently pointed her to the one thing that was needed.
- Direct
Anguish in Gethsemane
Luke 22:39–46- What Jesus experienced
- Distress so great that Luke says his sweat became like drops of blood.
- What Jesus did
- He prayed honestly, asked for the cup to pass — and entrusted himself to the Father.
- What Jesus said
“not my will, but thine be done.”
Luke 22:42 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
What Scripture doesn’t tell us
Faith is not a replacement for care. If anxiety is constant, affects your sleep, work or relationships, or comes with panic attacks, please talk to a doctor or a mental-health professional. Asking for help is not a lack of faith.
Someone who walked this road
- PeterScripture
Peter walked on the water until he looked at the wind and began to sink — and Jesus caught him at once (Matthew 14:28-31).
Explore connections → - Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (of Lisieux)Historical context
As a girl Thérèse suffered from anxiety and scruples; she found peace in a little way of trust, like a child in her father's arms.
Explore connections →
Pray
Lord Jesus, you slept in the storm, and you also knew anguish in the garden. You know what is weighing on me. I give you this day — only this day. Calm what can be calmed in me, and stay with me in what cannot. Amen.
Written for Lumen as a simple personal prayer — not a liturgical text.
One thing to do today
Write down the one thing worrying you most. Under it write: today, not tomorrow. Then pray the Our Father slowly, and stop for a moment at give us this day.
- What is the storm in your boat right now?
- What would it look like to hand over just today?