Month: August 2023

Author:  Beth Zanotelli, Family Life Coordinator for the Diocese of Palm Beach

Each day you hear in the news and on social media that anxiety and fear are affecting more and more people in their day-to-day lives.  Many are struggling with phobias, and anxieties that they didn’t have before. Psalm 23 is one of many reminders in Holy Scripture that we are never alone. Verse one says: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23 continues to give us hope…we are not alone.  It is worth posting the entire Psalm here…

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.  He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

The Bible is God’s love letter to us.  The Good Shepherd is constantly reminding and encouraging us.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in what the world is telling you and it’s even easier to forget your common sense. When you develop the bad habit of focusing on the electronics in your life, it’s easy to feel alone and abandoned. Social Media and the news want you to think there is no hope.   The world tempts us with empty promises and lies.  Perhaps it’s time to create some distance from what the world is saying and practice focusing on what God is saying. Focus on your relationship with God, your relationship with yourself and your relationships with other people.

Be kind to yourself, when you feel alone, take a walk outside, look at the nature around you; focus on the goodness of God’s Creation.  Hopefully, as the weather begins to cool you can take an early morning or early evening walk and breathe in fresh air.   As you walk, make a connection with the awe and wonder of the gifts God has given each of us.  As you walk or even as you sit, rekindle your relationship with God.  You are not alone!  Learn something about the creation around you.

It’s amazing how much money we spend on things, try spending money on experiences, like a class learning how to do something you’ve always wanted to try or learning about something you’ve always wanted to know.  Feeling lonely?  Try to boost your prayer time and rethink how you spend your spare time.  Carve out some time without any electronics, no video games, no social media, no Netflix, or TV, and take off your watch if it connects you to all these things. 

Do more things with people!  Engage in a small group, a book club, a bible study, sports, a club…find ways to be around others.  Avoid the self-check- out and say “hi” to the person scanning your purchase or if it can’t be avoided, say “hello” to the person at the self-check-out next to you.  While you are being kind to yourself, focus on the present moment, no need to worry about the past or the future, focus on right now.  When you have a conversation with someone, focus on what they are saying, look at their eyes when they speak.  If you feel alone, stressed, or anxious, remember God is with you.  He doesn’t change, He is always present, He doesn’t lie, you can trust Him.  James 1:17 says “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”

Still feeling anxious and afraid?  Try shifting your focus to others, how can you help someone else?  Is there a small act of kindness that you could do for someone else today?  Helping others is a way to feel connected and less alone.  Try thinking about what you can give rather than what you can get.  Pray for others and pay attention to the things that matter.  Pay attention to the things that make you feel like you belong, things that make you feel connected.

It is easy to get caught up in the world. Create goals for yourself.  Who is the person you would like to become?  Keep track of your vision and pray that the Lord will keep you on the right path.  Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.” You are never alone; God is with you!

Here’s what the Scriptures have to say:

Deuteronomy 31:6   – Be brave and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the Lord, your God who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you. 

Joshua 1:9 – I command you: be firm and steadfast!  Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.

John 14:27 – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.

Psalm 23 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.  He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.

James 1:17 – Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

Author: Beth Zanotelli, Family Life Coordinator for the Diocese of Palm Beach

Before you ask what is your disposition, you might have to first ask yourself, what is disposition?  It’s a noun, that is, a person, place, or thing. This noun, however, you cannot hold in your hand.  It is a part of you; it is your usual mood or temperament.  Disposition could also be defined as a tendency. Are you a person who is joyful or do you tend to be gloomy?  Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?  Is your “cup half full” or does your cup tend to be “half empty”?  Does your disposition lean toward being a person who is receptive and open to what others have to say or do you tend to be close minded?  Jesus tells many parables that teach us about disposition.  In the Gospel of Matthew, we hear of Jesus talking to the crowds that gather.  Just as any great teacher does, Jesus uses more than one explanation to convey His message about the Kingdom of God.  Each parable uses a different image to explain His message.   In the parable of the Sower, the seeds fall on different types of soil. They fall on the path, on rocky ground, into thorns, or on fertile soil. Jesus explains that the Seeds are the Word of God. The different types of soil reflect the dispositions of our hearts.  It’s only in the fertile soil that the Word of God can truly grow, take root, and bear fruit. (Matthew 13:1-15)

How can we change and prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God?  What should be our disposition when we pray; when we read, listen to, or hear God’s Sacred Word?  Jesus tells us to be open and receptive – “Harden NOT your hearts” (Hebrews 4:8).  Let your heart be fertile and take time to cultivate your soul to be open to His Words, His Love, and His plan for you.  Just like most of us, soil does not have the disposition to provide the seed with what it needs to survive AND thrive. That’s why a farmer prepares his field to receive the seed; tilling it, watering it, adding nutrients, giving the soil what it needs to produce an abundant harvest. 

Look to Mary as an example of how to improve your disposition, she is the best example of one who is open and receptive to the Lord.  She is totally attuned to God. Her Immaculate Heart is not hindered by sin or the world.  Our Lady appeared to St. Brigid and told her, “The rose gives a fragrant odor; it is beautiful to the sight, and tender to the touch, and yet it grows among thorns, inimical (hostile) to the beauty and tenderness. So may also those who are mild, patient, beautiful in virtue, be put to the test among adversaries. And as the thorn, on the other hand, guards, so do wicked surroundings protect the just against sin, by demonstrating to them the destructiveness of sin.”  Mary is designated as the Mystical Rose because her beauty leads us to God, and her fragrance attracts our souls to Christ. 

Prepare the soil of your heart. Don’t let the world distract you, instead, allow adversity to inspire you to remain open. The first and easiest step might be to find your Bible and take it off the shelf, join a small group, read the Sunday readings the week before each Sunday Mass, and try to set aside time each day to prepare the soil of your heart.

Here’s what the Scriptures have to say:

Matthew 13:1-14 – On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.  And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A Sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.  But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”  He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.  To anyone who has, more will be given, and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’

Hebrews 3:13 – Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.  We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the beginning of the reality firm until the end, for it is said: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.’”

2 Timothy 3:14-16 – But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.