09/26/2026
Stress and worry are not opponents for us to face. Stress and worry are invitations to experience communion.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is our secret and stable source of peace. During the consecration we are invited to give our intentions, as well as our burdens to the Lord. Jesus as High Priest receives our offerings, just as he receives and consecrates ordinary bread and w**e.
During this moment of the Mass, we can not only name, but also entrust to Jesus our concerns or emotional disturbances. Our stress or anxieties don't simply 'vanish;' often, they move us to action. We need to 'do something' with the interior movements we feel. The liturgy is a sacred encounter where we can come before Our Heavenly Father and ask Him to care for us, to intervene for us, and to beg the grace we need to make us and the responses of our hearts new.
Joined to Jesus' Eucharistic Sacrifice, you are bringing the 'ordinary' aspects of your life, and allowing them in faith to become an offering to God. Bring Jesus the person or situation, the feeling or the burden you carry. Your offering joined to Christ's will not be unchanged. In communion with Christ, our crosses become a place of intimacy, love and life.
Written by Br. Damiano Mary Pio, CFR
