Ever wonder how the big names in Catholic spirituality seem so calm and collected? They seem to have found and be connected with something that gives their view of the world, and the way they engage with the world, a deep abiding peacefulness. I can laugh and say, “It’s like they know something we don’t! … Or they don’t know something that we think we do!” The good news is that everybody is human (there’s no getting around that) and each of us, no matter how ordinary or lowly, can become a more peaceful person, inside and outside. This article is for people who want to worry less and are looking for how Catholic spirituality may offer some good advice and options for that. Let’s get started…

Our minds are capable of seeing the world and learning from it in many different ways, and some work better for us than others. Worry and catastrophic thinking are two ways of seeing and interpreting what we see in the world. In worrying, we see the world as unpredictable or even adversarial to us, and sometimes overwhelming. In catastrophic thinking, we see the world as the setting for on worst possible scenario after another, a veritable chain of disasters. In both of these, you’ll notice that they involve thinking of the world in the same way that we are seeing it — there is a cycle built in there of “see something, think something” making a mindset happen in us in which we “see more of that same thing, think more of that same thing” and getting stuck in a self-perpetuating mindset.

Confirmatory bias is the experience we have when how we are seeing the world filters out the things that are not part of that mindset so that we only see what confirms or reinforces our minds. At all times, what we tell ourselves about he world and our experiences of it shapes how we see the next thing about the world and our experience of it. We can write ourselves scripts where we see the world, an event, or a person, as averse or terrible, and then the next time we go for a walk in the world, see an event, or encounter a person, the script kicks in and we see only what confirms our expectations, thus shaping our experience.

Big problems can happen with worry and catastrophic thinking:

• We may see things – things in the world, events, people – as worse and more malevolently potent than they actually are.
• We may isolate ourselves into spaces in which we feel safe and secure, although these spaces have to become smaller and smaller over time and we become more and more isolated from the world, events, and people.
• We may see ourselves as a loser and a victim tossed about on the waves, incapable within our own world, events, and relationships, perhaps without any hope, when actually we are full of potential, meaning, and purpose.
• We may have a hard time enjoying the world and relationships because we bring a negative mindset every time, maybe even attitudes and behaviors that are harsh and push people away to what we think of as a safe distance.
• We may be missing out on the experiences that we are capable of having as human beings and supposed to be having as human beings:
  • contentment
  • security
  • freedom and being carefree
  • creativity
  • forgiving and being forgiven
  • feeling loved
  • having trust and optimism
  • receiving benevolence and blessing, being
  • inspiration
  • being just plain silly
• Inability, or unavailability, for the kind of empathy that is needed for forgiveness because worrying consumes our mental space that we could be using for empathy and forgiveness. A person may say, “I can’t think about forgiveness right now” and it is literally true for that person.
• where empathy All of the above, just more frequently, in more situations, and becoming a bad habit.

The good news is that there is a health alternative to worry and catastrophic thinking.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus specifically addresses worrying, and provides a set of solutions which have stood the test of time. They will work for you and I as well. Here is the section from Matthew 6: 25-34:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?o

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’

All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

In this passage, Jesus starts off in a way that sounds like correcting people: “Don’t worry about it!” One consistent pattern throughout the Gospel of Matthew is how Jesus provides to each person that encounters him the exact thing that the person needs in the exact way the person needs it. So in this case, Jesus is more than likely voicing what the present gather ed people needed and wanted to hear: “You don’t have to worry.” This is definitive “good news” and makes the Gospel what it is.

Jesus is perhaps not as famed for psychological insights as he could be. When he addressed matters of the mind, it was often in the context of mental prayer, correct ways to think about about right and wrong, and correct ways to think about God. That said, Jesus does follow up “Don’t worry!” with not only some corrections to thinking, but some ways to actually make those corrections happen so a person can worry much less. These ways have stood the test of time, and have now even been validated by contemporary psychological research. These ways can work for you and me. Let’s list the ways we can see in the reading:

• Choosing the Alternative: “Do not worry about your life…but first seek the Kingdom of God.” Be aware that you literally don’t have to worry, that there is an alternative and other possibilities. It’s not a requirement of you! Instead you can choose to seek that alternative in the Kingdom of God for yourself. Jesus confirms that doing so will deliver success: “…all these things will be given you besides.” You can start putting this into practice by journaling your personal commitment to stop worrying about your life and instead seek an alternative in the Kingdom of God.
• Affirmation & Profound Trust: “Your heavenly father knows…” Affirm to yourself that you are important to God and what you need will be provided by God, who knows what you need. You can trust God to provide it. This is an affirmation to you that you can work into your day as a profound trust that God will always be involved in your situations to provide what you need in the situation and to pull those situations toward what is good for you. You can put this into practice by journaling the affirmation to yourself and finding ways to reaffirm throughout your day. One classic approach is to put a sticky note in the places you typically frequent throughout your routine day that reminds you of your affirmation, perhaps with a brief restatement like “Your heavenly father knows” or whatever works for you.
• Awareness of the Present: “Look…[and] do not worry about tomorrow.” Jesus teaches people not to worry by calling their attention to the present moment and what is in it. He does this not just to point out an example, but to impart awareness and observation of the present moment and all that is in it, including birds. This kind of awareness gets our mind back refocused and back on track rather than getting carried away by one worry stacked on another.
• Connection with Nature: “…birds of the sky…wild flowers…grass of the field…” Jesus certainly emphasized observing nature and God’s constant presence ad work in the created world as an antidote to worrying. When we spend time having a deep experience of nature, we are having a deep experience of God’s presence and relentless love, care, and revitalization in which we ourselves also participate. We should also note that connection with nature also has built into it a practice of stepping back and taking a break from the situations causing our worries so that we can spend time in nature. In that way, its too practices in one and a great use of our time.

All four of these ways of averting oneself from worrying and catastrophic thinking are also ways to experience God’s attention and care. In that way, they are not just good advice for self-care, but as teachings from God directly, they are also ways of beginning to participate in God’s revelation to each one of us. By “God’s revelation to each one of us” I am taking about the personal process of discovering God and connecting with God. Once again, we see an amazing capability that is within even the most lowly and ordinary of us. Everyone has this capability, and it can change the world.

Today, take a look at the four ways and pick one out to try out at least once a day for the coming week or so. It will be helpful to journal the experience you had trying out one of the four ways. Of course, if you are feeling a little more ambitious, you can try out more than one. Whichever you choose, see if you have experiences that you would like to see become part of your routine for living by intentionally setting aside time for it daily. If you want to, you can!

Please share these words with someone who needs them today.

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This article is an original work of the author and was not composed by or with artificial intelligence (AI). The author is solely responsible for the contents of this article and the opinions and perspectives expressed in the article are solely those of the author. © 2026 Thomas Delaney. All rights reserved.

photo: Thomas Delaney, 2026