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A Priest’s Thoughts on Depression, Anxiety, the Soul, Your Body and Your Brain

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 26, 2017  I was 19 years old the first time I had a panic attack. I was trying to go to sleep in my dorm room, when suddenly my heart began racing, my mind speeding forward, with what seemed like crazy, desperate thoughts. That was in the early 70’s and the phrase “panic attack” had not been invented. What I did not know was that this was the beginning of

30 Days and 38 Sayings of Saint Anthony (Days 1-7, Sayings 1-9)

DAY ONE 1.  When the holy Father (Abba) Anthony was living in the desert he was afflicted with lethargy (“accidie” – despondency/melancholy), and attacked by many imaginations (“logismoi”- thoughts/imaginations).  He said to God, “Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts will not leave me alone. What shall I do in my afflictions?  How can I be saved?  A little later, when he went outside, Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his