If you find that your life is filled with tension and anxiety, one obvious solution is to offer what you’re going through to Christ in prayer. And in a rich and beautiful podcast, Dr. Edward Sri shows us why and how we can do this by unpacking the famous phrase from Saint Pope John Paul II: “Be not afraid … Open wide the doors to Christ!”

Too often, many of us are afraid of what could happen if we don’t have control over all the areas of our lives. As Dr. Sri explains, this makes us live in perpetual anxiety and fear about work, success, our relationships, our dreams for our family, and so on.

But when we’re invited to open the doors of our lives to Christ, we’re not giving up control to just anyone, nor are we letting just anyone into our lives, rather we’re placing our lives in the hands of God himself!

In his podcast, Dr. Sri exhorts us to name the fear(s) that have power over us, and to give those over to God. When you allow God to run things in your life, incredible things can happen, not just in your own life, but in the lives of those around you, who will benefit from your personal surrendering of your life to God. Think about that – your decision to open your life to God, or not to do so, will accordingly impact your family, workplace, parish, etc.

The call to ‘open wide the doors’, should not just be seen as a pious idea, but it should translate into an action plan for our lives. How much we open wide the doors to Christ, is an indication of how which we really trust him. God’s incredible plan for our lives will not come to fruition if all we do is sit back and reflect on ‘opening wide the doors of our hearts to Christ’ and go no further than that.

The invitation from Saint Pope John Paul II is for us to surrender our lives to God, because when we live in full surrender to God, he can do amazing things through us. So, do it. Starting today, and choose to live in freedom from fear, anxiety and stress. Be not afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ!

Check out the full podcast from Dr Edward Sri here.

Questions to Ask Yourself when You’re Anxious or Afraid

• What is God trying to tell me? 
• Is this a sign that something is off spiritually?
• Am I too attached to something—someone’s esteem of me, my position at work, a plan for my children or family? 
• Do I want too much control in my life? 

These questions were found on the Ascension Press website. Find more questions here: https://media.ascensionpress.com/podcast/pope-john-paul-ii-open-wide-the-doors-for-christ/

More St. JPII Resources