Anxieties of Daily Life!

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Dan 7:15-27; Lk 21:34-36

Today’s Gospel highlights the connection between anxieties of daily life and distraction from the things of the Lord.

It is true that Jesus warns his disciples about carousing and drunkenness, as they impede their vigilance. However, the modern crisis points to work or career addiction, which is relatively higher among men. Research findings suggest that 15% of men in the USA may be at risk of workaholism, while 49% of males feel they have a workaholism manifestation. In India, 9.7% of the working population meets the criteria for work addiction, while the rate for professionals is as high as 60%.

To tie these facts to the Gospel message, we understand that career goals distract us from our responsibilities to the family and to the faith. 

It is no wonder that Pope Francis talked of fathers as ‘absentee figures’ in modern families in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. He writes: ‘In our day, the problem no longer seems to be the overbearing presence of the father so much as his absence, his not being there. Fathers are often so caught up in themselves and their work, and at times in their own self-fulfilment, that they neglect their families. They leave the little ones and the young to themselves’ (No. 176). Hence, he suggests a motto for men: ‘To be a father who is always present’ (No. 177). These insights help us realize the damage workaholism can cause to modern families. 

Coming back to the Gospel, we find Jesus inviting us to stay away from the anxieties of daily life so they do not wreck our families or faith. When Jesus calls us to be vigilant, he wants us to understand that whatever distracts us from the things of the Lord amounts to the anxieties of daily life. If carousing and drunkenness indicate one extreme of addiction that dulls one’s conscience or weakens one’s commitment, modern addictions like workaholism are nonetheless. In their intensity, modern addictions match the carousing and drunkenness of older times. 

As we draw closer to the days of welcoming the Lord in our midst, we cannot afford to lose ourselves in such daily distractions and temptations. 

Let us pray for the gift of vigilance so that we do the very thing that God wants us to do.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar