Deliver us from anxiety

As I find myself in the midst of essays, textbooks, and midterms, I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to go to daily mass. Some days I have tons of things to do. Some days I don't want to do anything. Some days it seems I have no time. Some days it feels as if time doesn't exist. In the midst of all this, I'm able to meet with Christ present in the Eucharist. The daily reception of the Eucharist is my source of hope and strength. He is my source of confidence, and I know that if I walk in His ways, He will provide me with the grace I need to carry out His will.

October is always a stressful time of the year for university students. October and February. There is something about these months that even thinking of them is stressful. Too much to do all at once. Anyways, the other day one of my Catholic friends from school, after attending mid-day Mass on a particularly stressful day, pointed out that she had noticed for the first time the following line from the Communion Rite in the Mass.

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 as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

These words, spoken by the priest after the Our Father, speak the words that so many people need to hear in our anxious world. It's so easy to get caught up in the worries of the day, yet these few simple phrases remind us of the orientation our lives should take as we pursue holiness, guarded from the anxieties of this world by Christ, and await our union with him in Heaven. In the Mass we are given a foretaste of this, as in the penitential rite we are freed from our sin and we step outside of our daily cares and concerns, laying them at the feet of Jesus, to take the time to join in the Mass. Furthermore, we have a foretaste of the Eschaton as our Savior, Jesus Christ, comes to us in the Eucharist.

May the peace of Christ, which surpases all human understanding, be with you always.