Still Polly

"I'll come for you." Since Advent started I have changed my morning routine slightly. I had been reading some books on the Stations of the Cross, on prayer, a book on detraction (very sobering), but I was out of new things, and had reread some of my favorites, so I was looking for something to do in Advent.  On top of this search, I had taken a break from my morning journaling, quite frankly because it was vacillating between a "what we ate and where we went" journal and literally a "gripe" journal (think Rain Man and the "Serious Injury List"). It wasn't productive, and it certainly wasn't helping my spiritual life. The time in between the food/gripe journal was a little empty, but I just continued prayer, daily Mass readings, some reflections, and my rosary every day. But I was looking for something more for Advent.  The Holy Spirit provided inspiration. And it was, as usual, right in front of me. Lectio Divina. I had prayed this wa...

One morning as I was praying the Rosary it struck me: every single one of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary has anxiety provoking triggers for me.  Wait a second. Isn't the Rosary is supposed to be a peaceful, meditative prayer in which we focus on events in the life of Christ and the Blessed Mother? It's twenty-or-so minutes of prayer, giving us the time to really, mindfully dwell on each of these events, giving our prayer intentions or those of others over to Our Lady and counting on her intercession. As a naturally anxious person it's not a big leap for me to find some anxiety in just about everything. It really is a constant battle. But this was maybe taking it a bit too far. The Joyful Mysteries are supposed to be joyful , happy scenes that remind us of Jesus' conception, birth, and childhood. What can be scary about any of that? The Joyful Anxieties I could call these the "wait, what?" mysteries. What did you say? What just happened? What did you do? A ...