Carrying What’s Mine to Carry

Woman Carrying a Burden, by Eugene Jules Joseph Laermans (1916)

Many faithful people carry more than our share of concern. We pray for our families, our parishes, our country, and the wider world. We follow the news because we feel a responsibility to stay aware. We hold the suffering of others in our hearts because love calls us to care. Over time, that care can quietly turn into a heavy burden.

Without realizing it, we begin to feel responsible for everything we see. The worries accumulate. Headlines linger in our thoughts. Conversations replay in our minds. We carry concern into prayer, but we also carry it in our bodies, our sleep, and our peace. And eventually, something inside of us feels strained and tired.

Faith does not ask us to carry the whole world. There is a difference between being attentive and being overwhelmed. There is a difference between compassionate awareness and constant exposure. God never intended for our hearts to absorb every fear, every injustice, and every crisis without rest.

Even Jesus stepped away from the crowds. He withdrew to quiet places. He prayed. He rested. He entrusted the world to the Father. That alone tells us something important.

Setting boundaries around news and worry is not indifference. It is stewardship. Our peace is not something we cling to selfishly. It is something we are meant to tend carefully, so that it can be offered back to God and shared with others. When we limit what we take in, we are not turning away from suffering. We are acknowledging our human limitations. We are choosing to bring fewer burdens more faithfully to prayer, rather than carrying many burdens with growing anxiety.

This might mean checking the news once a day instead of many times. It might mean turning off commentary that stirs anger or fear. It might mean noticing when a conversation leaves you unsettled and giving yourself permission to step back.

Prayer changes when we stop carrying everything alone. It becomes quieter. More honest. Less frantic. Peace grows in that space.

Not because the world has suddenly become calmer, but because our souls have found their proper resting place. Not burdened by constant worry and anchored in God’s care. Today the invitation is simple. Carry concern with compassion. Carry prayer with intention. And let God carry the world.

To allow oneself to be

carried away by a multitude

of conflicting concerns,

to surrender to too many

demands, to commit

oneself to too many

projects, to want to help

everyone in everything, is

to succumb to the violence

of our time

– Thomas Merton