Cast Your Anxieties on God

Be calm and cease worrying once and for all. Do not lament anymore about a state Divine Providence has prepared for you so wisely. (OCL, II, 404, p.153)

The life of the human person, according to St. Vincent Pallotti, is wonderfully guided by the eternal plan of God. Hence, every person’s life has a purpose. Nothing happens in his life without a reason, even though an event may appear to the human thinking as meaningless. It is important that the human person attempts to understand the way God looks at his life and guides it. God is beyond time. The totality of time, that is, the past, present and future, is eternally present to God. Hence, God knows not only the past and the present of a person’s history, but also the future. This knowledge God has about a person guides him in making his plans for the person. Therefore, every event, whether good or bad, has a definite purpose in a person’s life. In and through every happening, God works out what is good for the human person. It is important for a person to understand this truth. For St. Vincent, the more a person comes to understand this truth, the more ready he is to accept everything that happens in his life without any worry and anxiety. He asks his followers to be calm and to give up worrying once and for all. They must never lament the state in which God’s providence has placed them at a particular moment in the history of their lives. In other words, St. Vincent wants them to believe in God’s plan for each of them and accept whatever happens in their life in this spirit, casting all their anxieties on God. It is St. Vincent’s belief that if they live their life in this spirit, they not only learn to overcome the difficulties that come into their lives, but also to be happy in accomplishing God’s plan.

Do I recognize that God has a plan for me? Do I accept that in that plan there is a place for both the good and the evil? Do I believe in God’s providential care for me? Do I spend my time worrying about whatever happens in my life? Am I ready to embrace God’s plan for me, casting all my anxieties on him?

Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. (I Pet. 5: 7)