An anxiety attack can really try your faith and put you in a dark place. It can often feel like you will never come out of it again and the one thing you desperately need is faith, but you have no idea how to get it back. If you are anxious and find yourself struggling with a sinking heart, knots in your stomach, hopelessness, and a fear that you will never overcome your anxiety, this prayer is for you.
This prayer during an anxiety attack is not a petition for healing, but rather an affirmation of faith in God and a surrender to your situation with complete humility and trust in God’s loving mercy.
Before Our Prayer During an Anxiety Attack
Before we begin this prayer, take a few moments to put yourself in the presence of God. Make sure you are in a quiet environment where you will not be disturbed. You may want to surround yourself with comforting things that bring you peace. Before you begin your prayer, take a couple of deep breaths and exhale slowly. Center your mind by visualizing Jesus with you in your place of prayer. If it is hard to picture Jesus in your mind, have a picture of him to look at as you begin your time of prayer.
Now that you are calm and can feel the presence of the Lord with you, let’s begin this prayer during an anxiety attack that affirms your faith in God and helps you surrender this suffering in humility and faith.
Settle Your Anxious Mind by Visualizing Jesus
Now we are going to visualize Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, in a moment of anxiety. We are traveling at night to the Mount of Olives. This was the sacred space that Jesus loved. It was a place of intimate prayer. He often went there to be with the Father. In the week leading up to his crucifixion he visited this place three times.
We join the Lord on this last visit to Gethsemane, after the devil has entered Judas. The soldiers are en route to arrest him because the hour has finally come for him to be handed over. Imagine yourself there observing Jesus in the garden. He is praying for strength to endure his passion.
St. Luke tells us Jesus was strengthened by an angel as he prayed that night. Can you visualize the angel there with him? He also tells us that Jesus was so filled with anxiety that he began to sweat blood. This is a medical condition called hematohidrosis, and it happens when someone undergoes extreme stress and anxiety.
Let’s now read a passage from the book of Matthew about the Garden of Gethsemane.
Agony in the Garden
Matthew 26:36-46
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.”
He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”
When he returned to his disciples, he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!”
Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open. He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again.
Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”
Prayer During an Anxiety Attack
Jesus, you understand anxiety. You yourself felt it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Your body was so overcome by it you sweat blood.
I know by your wounds I am healed.
Lord, if you will it, take this cup of anxiety from me. Not my will, Lord, but yours be done.
Jesus, I know you are perfecting me and molding me into a new creation. Let me humbly surrender this moment to you and enter into it. You are healing my broken heart and binding my wounds. I am coming to you with my burdens, and I know you will give me rest.
Jesus, I surrender my body and mind to you. I know my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and I am not my own. I was bought at a price, so I choose to honor you, Lord, with my body in this moment. I cast all my anxiety on you because I know you care for me and you love me.
Jesus, I surrender my mind to you and all my anxious thoughts. I know that you promise me peace and you will guard my heart and mind. Lord, give me faith. By my faith, you will heal me and I will be at peace even in the midst of an anxiety attack.
Just say the word, and I will be healed. Even though my heart may be broken and my spirit crushed, you are very close to me in times of suffering, especially during an anxiety attack.
I know you have plans for me and that when I put my faith in you, I will grow in hope and trust in your loving providence for my future. I know this suffering will only last for a little while and one day lead to a greater glory. You will strengthen me and restore me in body, mind, and soul.
I thank you and praise you for your goodness, your steadfast love, and endless mercy. I am sorry that you suffered such agony in the garden out of love for me and all sinners. Let me remember your anxiety attack in the Garden of Gethsemane when I am faced with my own anxiety attack so that I can suffer well and unite my pain with yours out of love for you.
Jesus, I give you my mind, help me focus my thoughts on God, my neighbor’s needs, and not on myself.
Jesus, I give you my trembling hands, let me use them to serve you and glorify you.
Jesus, I give you my palpitating heart, opening it wide to receive your loving presence and offering my love in return.
Jesus, I give you my stomach in knots, let me be nourished by your word and healed of all distrust.
Jesus, I give you my rising body temperature during an anxiety attack, let my soul burn with equal intensity through the fire of the Holy Spirit.
I thank you and praise you for your loving presence.
AMEN.
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2 Responses
Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book entitled “The Anxious Generation” argues
that today’s kids are marked by significant increases in anxiety, as the
title suggests. Smartphones, social media, economic uncertainty, the
chaos of a global pandemic, fear regarding climate change, and the
so-called “meaning crisis” all contribute to strikingly high levels of
anxiety in young people today. I’m a bit older than this generation, but I
feel it, too. The world can be too much to handle.
The Gospel this week offers a stunning solution for troubled souls. To
his overwhelmed and anxious disciples, the risen Jesus says, “Peace I
leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27). His peace is that of
the one who was overwhelmed on the cross and then conquered death
by the power of his divinity, his bond of love with the Father. He offers
us this unshakeable peace.
Of course, mental illness does not magically disappear because of the
risen Jesus. But he does walk with us and offer us his peace in the
midst of our suffering. The peace the world gives is not like his because
it is weak, uncertain, and self-generated. Jesus’ peace is strong, sure,
and given as a gift from God. He gives it to us amid our anxiety. Will you
receive it as a gift? I hope so. He wants to fill the hearts of this
generation with his peace.
— Father John Muir
Beautifully said. Thank you, Sonya Therese.